Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

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

Bottle courtesy AllAboutStout, pours dark mahogany with a fizzy, cream colored head that lingers. Nose is a bit subdued, with dried fruit standing out the most, along with a touch of malty sweetness and bourbon. The flavor is very rich and complex, with the same dried fruit and sweet malt with bourbon smoothing out the flavor. I thought I was misplacing the flavor, but then I read that the ’06 was barrel aged in bourbon barrels and there it was! I am a big fan of this one.

Bottle from Capone’s - I am assuming this is the 2006 version, based on some of the bourbon barrel tastes noted. Consumed on 31 March 2008. Strong aroma has chocolate malty, light toffee, strong caramel, and tons and tons of wood (oak) heavily saturated with bourbon. Deep caramel chestnut pour lets just a bit of light through, with a light light brown head. The lures are just sultry. Rich, full taste of strong caramel and fig, lightly bitter with a little less sweetness (dryness wins out by the end), and dominant notes of vanilla, bourbon, and wood. Alcohol stronger toward the end, and prominent as a significant contributor to the flavor. Malt dominates whatever is left of the pine and citric hops, but that’s not a bad thing here. Brown sugar and a touch of cherry. Viscous, thick body is smooth going down, not quite sticky but dense and layered. I like this much more than KBS; it leans away from the roast and toward a complex Barleywine. Hoo-boy, what a sipper!

Toffee-beige colour and hazy. Earthy, toffeeish nose with late alcohol, minerals and shiitake mushrooms. Sweet, with a hard body. Some brown sugar, more minerals and late alcohol. Somewhat uncohesive.

Pours amber-mahogany with frothy tan head. Bready aroma with notes of honey, vanilla, oak, brown sugar, coconut, apple, citrus, slight sourness. Flavor is stronger than the nose would let on, but still quite nice and complex- honey, whiskey, slight sourness, vanilla, oak. Unique use of malts. Palate is slightly sticky, however. Overall, well worth a try.

2007 Great Taste: Sweet, malty, and alcoholic. Strong cracker flavors, but also wood, honey, vanilla, and potato. Thick alcoholic finish.

Dark opaque chestnut with small dense head and nice lacing. Smell is sweet and rich with bourbon and coconut.Taste is same, with vanilla and a tiny bit of astringency. Finishes with banana bread, and slight warming alcohol. AWESOME $5.45/12oz

Poured a hazy red amber color with a small, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of cocoa, dried fruits, vanilla, citrus, resiny pine, caramel, and a bit of alcohol as well. Taste of caramel, pine, citrus, dark fruits, nougat, grapefruit hops, vanilla, and a bit of alcohol in the finish.

Mar. 2007 - Old Ales being one of my favorite styles, and Founders being one of my favorite brewers, my high expectations were a little disappointed here. Pour was murky brown, like swamp water lots of yeasties floating around...no head or lacing. Aroma was thick caramel. Flavor was really sweet caramel and a strong fruity phenolic flavor that tasted more like bananas than any hefe I’ve had. Really sweet. The mouthfeel was really thick (can’t accuse this one of being watery), but very undercarbonated and flat, which made the sweetness mildly cloying. Very little bitterness to balance out all the sweetness. I never thought I’d say this, but the Sam Adams take on this style was far superior.