Boulevard releases Crown Town Ale on Tuesday (with review)

Last month, Boulevard Brewing Co. announced it was brewing a beer to commemorate the Royals’ historic run in the World Series.

Today, the Kansas City brewery revealed that the limited-release beer, called Crown Town Ale, will be released in Kansas City on Tuesday. We got our hands on a 750-milliliter sample bottle this afternoon and popped it open as soon as it was chilled.

The blonde ale poured a bright, golden color — sort of like Sluggerrr — and had a crown of creamy white foam.

One taster remarked that the slightly hazy beer tasted a bit like Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat, with more tang. Another joked that it tasted like “Moustakas in June.”

We all agreed that even on a gray and gloomy December afternoon, Crown Town Ale took us back to summertime.

“I would totally slam this after mowing the grass,” said one taster. Another said she could picture sipping Crown Town Ale at the K.

“It makes you feel like you’re at the ballpark,” she said.

Crown Town Ale has sunny citrus flavors, but our panel agreed that they don’t stand out as prominently as the tangerine notes in Championship Ale, Boulevard’s Sporting KC beer, which was released in June. Crown Town Ale was too bitter for one taster who doesn’t like beer (“except for Stiegl Radler,” she said) but everyone else agreed that it was a tasty, drinkable beer that should appeal to casual beer drinkers and beer geeks alike.

Crown Town Ale is 6.2 percent alcohol by volume (in comparison, Unfiltered Wheat is 4.4 percent ABV) — so it will give you that Blue October buzz. Because of copyright rules, there’s no mention of the Royals or the World Series on Crown Town Ale’s bottle. But the back label does pay homage to Kansas City’s hometown baseball team.

“October of 2014 will forever be remembered in Kansas City as a time when the entire community united in support of our hometown team,” the label reads. “Crown Town Ale is our toast to their inspiring journey and the remarkable achievements of our boys in blue; a golden blonde ale with bright citrus notes and just a hint of bitterness.”

Our panel couldn’t resist cracking a few jokes about the beer’s (pleasantly) bitter finish.

“It tastes like a Madison Bumgarner strikeout,” said one taster who witnessed plenty of those in person. Then, later: “It’s 90 feet away from being the best beer I’ve ever tasted.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Boulevard releases Crown Town Ale on Tuesday (with review)."