Boss Tom's Golden Bock is bottled and will start appearing on shelves between now and the end of March. The latest beer from the Boulevard Brewing Company replaces the seasonal Maibock introduced in 2008 and will be available in bottles and on tap through May.
"This isn't an extreme change [from the Maibock], we just tweaked it a bit," says brewer Matt Ruzich.
Boss Tom's is named for Tom Pendergast and the label art depicts the historical battle between his supporters, known as "goats," and his political rivals, the "rabbits." The lager style beer is a bock, which translated from German also means "billy goat," so the goat references with this beer are off the charts.
With pale, Munich, pilsner, caramel and wheat malts, this 6.1 percent ABV lager has no shortage of flavor.
"You can taste the Pilsner malt. You might find it similar to the Pilsner we recently released," says Ruzich.
Providing a nice counterpoint to the malt are Hallertau and Perle Hops and a 22 on the International Bitterness Units scale. "This won't have the punch of an IPA, for example," Ruzich says. "It's just real refreshing."
Boulevard provided Fat City with a sample six-pack before the beer was released, and I have a few tasting notes.
The Boss Tom's pours a nice golden yellow with a white head -- this is the color that ad agencies hope to create for beer commercials. The first word that comes to mind when I sip the beer is "clean." It's smooth and has the slight warming quality that Boulevard suggested in the accompanying literature.
It's also sweeter than I expected, with a light, almost honey taste. Show-Me Beer also tasted apples and I understand why. The hops provide a slight counterpunch, meaning the beer is crisp and slightly drier at the end.
Boulevard recommends pairing Boss Tom's with spicy Asian foods, bratwurst, Swiss cheese or white chocolate cheesecake. I had breakfast for dinner last night and thought it went fairly well with vanilla-cinnamon French toast. That heightened the caramel in Boss Tom's, although this is a beer that doesn't need a meal to be complete.
Although I wasn't around for Kansas City's golden age of machine politics, I can imagine this beer in an ice chest next to Tom Pendergast as he looked out a rainy window from his brother's saloon in the West Bottoms.
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if it is good as the tour sample I had a month ago watch out. A classic in the works here! Yum!
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