Founders Backwoods Bastard

Beer: Founders Backwoods Bastard
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
ABV: 10.2%




Founders is just relentless in the amount of new beer coming out from them right now, and it is hard to keep up with everything, and then in the next few months four or five more offerings are coming out as well. I know Kentucky Breakfast Stout will be coming out in February, and I am not sure on the exact dates, but they will be releasing their porter for the first time in a very long time, imperial stout, and I am sure there is something more that I am missing. This beer just hit Indiana a few weeks ago and I just have not had time to review it recently.

I also like that Founder has not gone to bombers, and they continue to make their beer in 12 oz bottles. Many brewers are putting all of their high gravity beer in nothing but bombers. The 12 oz bottle is just a little more convenient for me. That is more of an observation than anything else.

This beer pours a dark rustic hue with a thin tan head. The nose is loaded with vanilla, wood, bourbon, cherry, and a slight hint of peat. The flavor profile is pretty intense with initial flavors of vanilla, oak, and dark cherries. The alcohol burn from the bourbon though really took away from this beer for me. It does not meld with the beer and overtook from most of the flavors that I was tasting. I let the beer warm for about thirty minutes and the flavor profile did sweeten a little bit, but the alcohol burn was still quite harsh I think. I really enjoy dirty bastard (the non-barrel aged version) because of the rich caramel malt base, but I never found that in this beer. The mouthfeel is full bodied with plenty of alcohol on the mouthfeel. The drinkabilility wasn't really there for me. I hope with some age on this beer it will settle down a bit.

I was really looking forward to this beer, but the alcohol and vanilla was just overwhelming and made this beer a miss for me. I am going to age my remaining bottles for a while and see if the flavor backs off a bit. Has anyone aged one of these before?

Cheers!
Matt

Founder's Curmudgeon

Beer: Founder's Curmudgeon
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: Old Ale
ABV: 9.8%



I picked up a four pack of this the same time I picked up a four pack of the harvest ale. Founder's has not bottled this offering since 2006, and I have been wanting to get my hands on more of this offering pretty much since then. I only bought one bottle of this beer from Parti Pak back in 2006. I was just really getting into craft beer at that time, and I had no idea this beer was that limited. I don't have much experience with old ales, but I've drank Third Coast Old Ale from Bell's on many occasions, and that is about my extent of experience with old ales. I do have to say that I love the label art combined with the name on this beer.

This beer pours a dark amber color with slight ruby accents and a small tan head on it that quickly dissipated into nothing and left no lacing. The smell is dominant of dark fruits (plums and raisins) and caramel malt. I consider this a "malty" nose, and I like it on this cool fall evening. The flavor profile hits heavy with all of the caramel malt in the nose coming full force on the palate with other flavors or dark fruit, banana, and a spot of sweet molasses, but the alcohol in this offering also comes through in the flavor profile. The mouthfeel is full bodied with medium carbonation and a good shot of warming alcohol is present. The drinkability is very good on this beer, and I could have easily drank another one.

I really enjoyed this beer, and I am going to assume this is a good example of the style. I am going to search out more old ales to get more familiar with the style. I can easily see having old ales around this Winter. This is yet another great beer from Founders.

Cheers!
Matt

Founders Harvest Ale

Beer: Founder's Harvest Ale
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: APA
ABV: 6.5%


It is that time of year for wet-hop beers. The hop harvest is usually taken in September, and then the hops are dried and pressed into pellet rabbit food looking form to preserve them for the year. Many brewers are now getting the hops straight from the hops fields and making beer from the fresh hops called "wet hop beer" or "harvest ale." The hop cones will have more fragrant oils and will impart different characteristics than the same dried hop variety will produce. Think about it like cooking a meal. If you make the same meal with fresh basil and made it with dried basil there is a noticeable difference in the end products. I am all for wet hop beers, and I was very excited when I picked up a four pack of this beer from Ben at Crown Liquors.


A very gentle pour produces a massive head that took a good five minutes to settle down before I could pour the rest of the beer into my pint glass. This golden yellow beer left sheets of lacing on the walls of my glass as well with staying power for the entire beer. The nose on this beer is hop oils all the way with varying scents of citrus and pine, and I also get more and more earthy undertones as the beer warmed. The flavor profile starts with a big rush of citrus flavor with bitter pine coming in quite quickly and just a touch of pale malt to balance out the hop flavors. The mouthfeel is slick and oily with medium carbonation with no alcohol present on the mouthfeel. The drinkability is very good on this beer and I probably could have killed my only four pack of this last night, but I am at least going to try to make them last through this month.

I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. I liked the "fresh" taste from this beer, and provided a different aspect to how hops can taste. There is significant bitterness on this beer, but it isn't like any other hopped beer you will taste and is a bit more gentle on the palate, and I've burned myself out on IPAs, but this was a welcome change. This beer was well balanced and quite a tasty treat. I would hunt this beer down in Indiana if you can find any out there right now.

Cheers!
Matt

Founder's Breakfast Stout

Beer: Founders Breakfast Stout
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: American Double Stout
ABV: 8.3%


I've been running behind on posts recently. It has been really crazy for me lately and the blog was not all that high on the priority list as of late.


I've been waiting rather impatiently for this beer to come out. I worked through the last of my stock of this beer, and this is one of my favorite beers. I am not sure when or where it happened, but I would tell you that I am a die hard hop-head, but I think those days are gone. If given the choice I would take my favorite stout over my favorite DIPA or IPA given the chance on most occasions. I think I just burned myself out on that style for a bit.

Breakfast stout pours a very dark black with slight brown highlights at the edges with a thin mocha colored head on it. The nose on this beer is an assult of rich and complex bitter coffee, bitter chocolate, roasted grain, oats, and wood. This is truly one of the best noses you will find on a stout. The flavor profile is a perfect match for the nose with a rich wave of bitter coffee at first quickly followed by a rush of bitter chocolate. The roasted grain also makes an appearance as does cherry and vanilla, but those flavors are lingering in the background when compared to the coffee and bitter chocolate. The mouthfeel isn't as thick as one would probably expect, but it is medium to full bodied and velvety smooth. I don't get a great deal of alcohol on the mouth, but I do feel the warming alcohol in my stomach. The drinkability is really fantastic on this brew, but I wouldn't have to many of them in one sitting, and would be best in moderation.

This is a really fantastic brew. I would like to see a bit more viscosity in the mouthfeel, but that isn't really a big deal for me. This is one of the finer uses of coffee in a beer that I've had along with Peche Mortel. This just hit Indianapolis this week, and get it while you can because it won't be around for very long most likely. I really think Founders is one of the best brewers in the country and one of my personal favorites.

Cheers!
Matt

Founders Brewing Company

Place: Founder's Brewing Company
Location: Grand Rapids, MI



The wife and I decided to take a long weekend, and we settled on Grand Rapids, MI. It has plenty of things that I want to see, and Grand Rapids has plenty to offering if you are not a beer fan. I really liked my time there, and I will gladly go back again. They have a new museum of modern art, the Frederick Meijer Gardens, and plenty of mom and pop type places that make for more interesting food choices. We ate at a place called Maria Catrib's that was one of the best lunch meals I've had in a very long time.

Founder's is one of my favorite brewers out there. I like the line-up of beer they produce and I am hard pressed to find a more consistent craft brewer. I've never had a bad beer out of the bottle (or style) from them. Founder's is pretty much right downtown and was only a couple block walk from our hotel. We were walking right along and I was beginning to wonder where it was, but you come around the side of a large building and there it is. I was quite impressed by how big the place is. It is the largest brew-pub I think I have ever been in. The whole front of the building has large garage style doors on them that open up so you can sit outside and still look right in on the bar. In the back of the taproom you see the brewing facility itself. You can only see the clarifying tanks, mash tun, and a few other things from where we were sitting, but I still enjoyed the view. They have a two large chalkboards that state what is on tap for the day, and they have an even bigger chalkboard that you can order food from. I was only drinking while we where there.
(sorry these pictures suck)
I started off with the regular IPA, and my wife started with the Rubaeus. I've reviewed the IPA out of bottle, but on tap the flavors are much more vibrant with the pine hop flavors coming in much stronger and a bit cleaner on the finish. The malt comes through a bit sweeter as well. Not quite a session beer at 7%, but I would certainly have more than a few of these, and I think it is just a great representation of the style.

My second beer was the imperial stout. I've never had the imperial stout, but I love their other stout offerings (Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Breakfast Stout), so I went ahead with this offering. The nose had plenty of chocolate and dark roasted malts going for it. The flavor profile melded roasted grain, bitter coffee, dark chocolate, and dark fruits together with no flavor dominating the next. The finish is thick, but the mouthfeel is so exceptionally smooth. This is a big beer with one of the best finishes I've encountered. I was really wowed by this offering, and I am going to look for me around the Indianapolis area.

Rubeaus on tap as well brings on new flavors of the sharp bitterness from the raspberries and the malt tastes in better tandem than out of a bottle. Out of the bottle I think is much sweeter than it is on tap. I like it either way, but out of the tap is significantly better.

I really enjoyed my time at Founders. The atmosphere is laid back and I had great service. We were there for happy hour when pints are $1.00 off. A pint of their IPA is only 2.75 during happy hour. I would really like to make it back to Founder's soon, and it is a must stop if you are in Grand Rapids area. This was my kind of place.

Cheers!
Matt