Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

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

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.

pours a nice reddish brown, with minimal head that sticks around for what little there is, and leaves just a bit of lacing. smells of spicy candied sugar with light notes of wood and just barely a hint of piney hops with cotton candy malt/hops combo. a very small whiff of alcohol, as well. tastes way "smoother" than i expected. the malt is considerably more subdued, with the woody notes coming out a bit more, and maybe a smoky note, and tiny little berry esters that wanted to be there in the smell (see: cotton candy), but couldn’t find the room. the hops seem a bit grassier in the taste, and are more prevalent. finishes lightly bittersweet; sort of like a belgian strong dark on the palate, instead of an old ale or barleywine. even a touch dry. fully creamy yet oily (does that make sense?) mouthfeel. i like it. lightly carbonated. the body makes up most of the mouthfeel, but there is a light bubbliness lingering there somewhere. pretty damn good. a bit less sweet and more drinkable than old ales that i’m used to. not necessarily the brew you’d like to drink while sitting at a fireplace smoking a cigar. very tasty, though!

12 fl oz bottle. Pours hazy brown with a fully gone head. Mild spiced and hoppy aroma. Sweet caramel malty flavoured with a light bitterness coming through. Mild caramel note. Lingering hoppy and caramel malty, dense, into the finish.

12oz bottle. Pours a copper/amber color with an off-white head. Aroma is of malt, caramel, vanilla, bitter fruit, and a very strong alcohol presence. Taste is malt, caramel, raisins, vanilla, all soaked in a nice woody bourbon flavor. Lingering caramel taste. Nice warming booze feel. Couple more of these brews and I’d wake up naked on the front lawn again. Surprisingly drinkable, despite the booziness. This is the perfect beer for a cold winter night or a bitter divorce.

Pours deep, clear copper into a snifter. Head quickly recedes to hug rim. Bourbon, vanilla, and alcohol aromas. Upfront full, syrupy oak turning boozy bourbon in the lasting finish.

Pours a murky reddish orange with a creamy off-white head that lingers as a thin cap for quite a while and leaves good lacing. The aroma is heavy on sweet caramel malts and dark sweet fruits. There is definitely a wood and bourbon presence but not overpowering. There are some floral hops up front as well. The taste is boozier than the aroma with lots of bourbon and oak throughout. The flavor has the sweetness of the caramel malts and molasses but it takes a back seat to the barrel character. The mouthfeel is crazy smooth but with good carbonation. Just coats the mouth wonderfully. This is an interesting old ale and I think it would have been even better for me without the overpowering barrel presence in the taste. Nonetheless, a good sipper.

Pours a nice copper with a decent beige. Strong bourbon, alcohol and rum notes with some raisin and twizzler notes. The taste is extremely oaky with lots of alcohol and bourbon. Nice sweet vanilla and caramel notes with subtle hints of chocolate and dark fruits. Pretty good, but way way way too heavy on the oak.