Boulevard’s Za’Tart spiced sour ale hits taps early next week

Boulevard releases its collaboration with Cambridge Brewing Co. early next week: Za’Tart spiced sour ale.

Boulevard ambassador brewer Jeremy Danner announced the new beer on the brewery’s website yesterday. The genesis of Za’Tart came about during this year’s Boulevardia festival when Cambridge brewmaster Will Meyers — in town for Boulevardia’s Taps & Tastes beer fest — approached Boulevard about a collaboration.

“Having known Will (and his beers) for several years, we weren’t surprised when he suggested a less than conventional beer,” Danner wrote. “Described quite loosely as a low ABV, sour rustic blonde with spices, Za’Tart is the beer that resulted from our collaboration.”

Za’Tart (4.7 percent ABV with 8.6 IBUs) will only be available in kegs in the Kansas City area starting next week. Boulevard spokeswoman Julie Weeks tells us that Za’Tart “is a very limited distribution, similar to Tripel Julep, so it won’t be around long.”

Danner wrote that Za’Tart’s mash began two days before Meyers and Cambridge arrived in KC for Boulevardia. Za’Tart takes its name from Za’atar, a mix of Middle Eastern herbs (oregano, thyme and sumac) that were used to spice the wort near the end of the boil.

From there, the wort was fermented with Cambridge’s house Belgian yeast strain. A second batch of Za’Tart was then brewed without the brewhouse souring process that the first went through. That batch was then added to the first, soured batch to balance it out. 

Again, look for it for a limited time on tap, starting early next week.