Boulevard, Roasterie team up to produce Coffee Ale

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Boulevard Brewing Co. won’t join with renowned chocolatier Christopher Elbow to produce Chocolate Ale for Valentine’s Day 2013, as it did the past two years.

However, the craft brewer has partnered with another iconic Kansas City company, The Roasterie, to produce a batch of Coffee Ale that will go on sale to the public in March.

Paul Massard, Roasterie’s green coffee buyer, said the two local businesses began working together on the new product back in October. The first batch was bottled last week, and is aging in a warehouse in preparation for March distribution.

“When you think of beer with coffee flavor, you would typically think of a stout or a porter,” Massard said. “But this is lighter in taste, viscosity and color. It’s like no coffee beer I’ve tried before. It’s very exciting.”

“People have been asking about it for a lot of years, and we finally had the opportunity to do it,” Boulevard spokesperson Julie Weeks said. “This is our KC collaboration for the year.”

Coffee Ale will be a limited release, Weeks said, but the exact on-sale date has not yet been determined.

Chocolate Ale might return in 2014, according to Weeks, but that has yet to be decided.