Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Pours a brownish amber color, hazy, with a moderate head. Aroma is of hops, with citrus and fruity notes as well as molasses. Taste is very sweet - molasses and caramel, with a slight hint of pine. Fills the mouth with a full flavor. But offers a quick finish.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of tjthresh as a part of NP10V4. Pours a hazy dark rust with a thin linen white head that was gone after the first sip and left a few scattered patches of lace. Pleasant aroma of malt, caramel and a few vapors of alcohol. There is plenty of malt and caramel in the flavor, along with a bit of orange peel. The finish is a tad dry and a somewhat strong alcohol flavor emerges as well that lingers for several seconds beyond the swallow. The body lacks the fullness or depth that I associate with the style, especially since this beer reminded me more of a barley wine. A little disappointing, especially for a beer that I had on my wants list.

Pours copperish with a small head. Subtle hop nose. Grapefruit and honey aroma, then more malt. Some woodiness. Very well balanced and insanely drinkable. Just a bit dull MF. Nonetheless a real treat.

355 mL into snifter. Wow this looks good: a clear strawberry with a huge, thick, yellow head that has excellent retention and leaves lots of lacing. Aroma is earthy, caramel, maple syrup, rich creme brulee, peat, New York cheesecake. Smells like Imperial Stout a little bit. Flavor is like an easier to drink barleywine. There are sweet creme brulee and caramel notes backed by some serious spicy hops. Quick finish making you want more. The near 10% is completely hidden. This beer is insanely good.

Poured a hazy, muddy orange color with lots of sediment (no matter how much I tried to minimize this) with no head to speak of. Aroma is bourbon. Period. Flavor is dominated by bourbon, but dark fruit and peaches emerge along with some woodiness. Warm, bitter, dry finish. A well crafted and complex beer.

Bottle, bought @ Ølbutikken, Cph.
Pours deep brownish red with a slight haze to it. Fine, staying, creamy, off-white head. Super lacings. Aroma has fat caramel, port, raisins, light vinious, chocolate and a bit of fruity hops. Low to medium carbonation, lovely oily mouthfeel. Flavour is sweet, port, oak, roasted, light chocolate, caramel. Fairly vinious. Lovely hoppy finish with some raisins and a touch of dark chocolate. Good beer.

Dark amber with a small off-white head that leaves a ring of lacings. The smell is malty (caramel and fudge) with notes of ripe fruit (grapes, strawberries?) vanilla and spices. It’s a rather rich smell. It’s good, but something seems off, like it’s going downhill or something. A malt-forward taste with pleasant flavors of caramel and toffee. Lots of fruity notes. The taste is sweet but balancing spicy notes level the sweetness. Here’s also an interesting note of vanilla. The finish has some nice bitterness to it and notes of wood and malts. Medium body with a rather creamy and slick texture. A decent beer. But Old ales raise my expectations and this one didn’t really meet them. There are far better examples of the style. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Location: 12 oz bottle from Norm’s, 11/16/09

Aroma: Gives off both sweet an alcoholic, notes of bourbon, orange, caramel, other fruits, a bit of earthiness, and some vanilla
Appearance: This one pours a cloudy dark red-orange color with almost no head to speak of, it leaves very light/spotty lace
Flavor: Tastes of sweet malts, some sugar, with kind of an orange-bourbon feel, plus a touch of spice, and a mild hop backing
Palate: This beer has a pretty full body, there is also some minimal carbonation and a bit of alcohol burn
Overall Impression: This beer is a bit strange, almost a hybrid orange-bourbon-beer combination type of thing. Hard to describe, but not completely outside the norm. It does have many of the typical Old Ale and Barleywine characteristic, but it also has some unusual characteristics to it as well. I like this one, but I’m not sure I’d want to drink it regularly. On the other hand, it is very interesting, and does appear to be pretty well-made, so I’m split. I’m going to give the overall score a boost for the creativity, even if the other scores don’t indicate it being quite that high.