Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

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

Pours a cloudy copper/brown with a small beige head. Aroma is sweet raisin, caramel, cherry, nutty, light chocolate, smoke, butterscotch andwood. Flavor is cherry, caramel, raisin, light pineapple and light nutty. Finish is a bit hot and also has some bourbon notes. Full bodied, sticky texture. Low carbonation.

12 ounce bottle in pint glass. Dark amber with lasting ring and lace. Very mild toasty malt aroma. Toasty brown sugar maltiness with medium raisiny fruity sweetness and medium dry bitter finish. Medium-full body and medium carbo. Quite complex and string but mellow and enticing. A well-made, drinkable, pleasant, strong, tasty old ale.

Fresh 2008 vintage. A cloudy, dark orange-amber colored body is crowned with a frothy, beige colored head. The bubbly foam settles to a thin but well retained layer. Sugary micro-spots of lace mark the glass. Aromatics include a heavy toffee malt base, caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, and a touch of dark rum. Light, fruity notes follow, everything from zesty white grapes to bruised nectarines. Floral hop notes come through on the back end. Flavors follow suit, sweet from the toffee and caramel, with balancing floral and citrus hops. Creamy butterscotch schnapps are a nice addition, with oak-aged dark rum adding French vanilla notes and a touch of heat. Fruity, floral hops lend balancing bitterness on the finish. The body is nearly full, creamy, and well balanced on the palate. This slow sipper is great when fresh, but can obviously handle age with grace. Excellent old ale.

Murky auburn red, a scant white head leaves a few spots of lace. Strong malty aroma, raisins and spice an first, turning to grain husks and dust as the beer opens up. Flavor similar, malty, doughy, sweet and spicy. When cold, there was a slightly off medicinal bitter element. With warmth, this fades, and the beer becomes increasingly bready, and earthy, husky, crusty cereal elements are the chief impressions. Medium to full bodied, lively on the tongue.

Bottle. Pours mahogany, red, with a very little thin white head. Aroma is strong caramel, peat, alcohol. Flavor is smooth, caramel, rye, alcohol is hidden well, also a little hint of chocolate, toffee, bread. Excellent

A bottle of this came to me courtesy of my cousin. Pungent floral aroma, with malty sweetness and a hint of citrus. Interesting label - one of Founder’s old geezers series. This is a very malty ale (in a good way) - rich and sweet, with light hops in the finish.

A nice and delicious old ale. This HAS to also be bourbon barrel aged. That’s all you can taste. Aroma was nice. Vanilla and bourbon with not much else. Pour was a deep murky light brown with a thin tan film for a head. Taste was strong bourbon, wood and vanilla taste with warm caramel and a sweet malty finish. No carbonation at all (basically flat). I usually don’t like flat beers, but the great flavor in this one makes it a good beer.

12 oz. Mahogany colored pour with a thin and sticky yellowish head. Hugely malty aroma of caramel, toffee, honey, with oak and vanilla prevalent also. Spiced backdrop, apple pie, faint resiny hops. I think they could have called this a scotch ale just as easily as an old ale. The flavor isn’t as nice as the aroma - woody, vanilla, caramel. Alcohol is very well hidden, long bitter and burnt sugar like finish. Barely there sweetness. Seltzer like bubbles, medium bodied. Really close to being excellent, but still very good.