Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

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

Dark amber color, small head. Strong bourbon aroma and flavor, with strong maltiness and some sweetness. Unlike some others, I did not taste the alcohol. Truly excellent beer. Re-rate: I had to mention that this is my favorite beer. The more I drink it, the more I love the bourbon flavor, and everything about it. My only complaint is that it’s not as easy to come by as I’d like. Nevertheless, I thought my score should reflect how highly I think of this beer.

I live in Grand Rapids so I’ve tried most of Founders products and though they are all distinctive in thier own way this, along with the Kentucky Boubon Stout, is by far thier finest masterpiece. Thick and Malty, this beer tastes like candy mixed with fine whiskey and warms soothingly as you swallow. The hops are generous but not too stong and play off the primary cereal flavor perfectly. Despite the price this is a beer you must try if your lucky enough to catch it on the shelf.

Thanks to goryskewych for this 08 bottle. Yes, you’re going to think I am crazy for this rating, but this beer is a sucker punch of flavor. Amazing symphony of barrel and beer. Pours a hazy red-brown with a minimal white-ish head. Nose is brandy, spice, raisin, booze, toffee, ripe fruit, figs, plums, and all manner of goodness. Flavor gives chills... brandy, raisin, whiskey, overripe dark fruit, vanilla, and barrel. A mountain of sweetness, but not oversweet. This beer is like enjoying the company of an old friend. Medium-bodied and beautiful to look at and enjoy. Every sip brings remarks of "holy shit," but in a good way, not like Mbege. This beer lingers with malt sweetness before the flavor and beer are gone and I begin looking for another beer.

I think this is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. It pours a dark ruby with an eggshell head. It’s aroma screams apricot, and raisins,with a hint of toffee. The flavor is reminiscent of it’s aroma, very dark and sweet. It really does taste like candy. Cheers!

Fresh bottle. Hazy and murky with a dirty ruby-caramel-brown color. Big tan sawdust concentration spans the head, and we’ve got a thick, clinging tan wrung with lovely lacing tracts as we go. Aroma revels in amarillo intoxication, melding longingly with sweet chewy amaretto nougats, a pistachio-pine combo, strawberry shortcake, cherry fig neutons with sugary single malt scotch injected into the fruit filling, cherry wax chews and bubblegum. Hot flavor reservation seeps in seductively, mirroring and miring the aroma. Spiced rum, banana-rye bread and a woody bourbon tract. Peppery amaretto toffee chews and delicatessen Disaronno bubblegum. Maplewood and gentle toasty accents of coconut aid sentiments of greased bing cherries. Sticky palate persona, with the tongue melding to the roof of the mouth and then recessing to a smidgeon of palate numbing. Gentle bitterness supports a huge malt bill with dead-on carbonation. That bitterness and alcohol line the center tongue groove while whisky & rye and flame-licked oak bring out the finish. This might be this brewery’s best foot forward. A masterful demonstration of complexity, and such an original work of art.

Cloudy amber with light head / Big, sweet, winey nose of coconut, caramel, and bourbon / Full body, thick and moderately syrupy, with superb balance and finish / Flavors of coconut, bourbon, caramel, milk chocolate, vanilla, and oak / One hell of a brew - almost flawless.

Speaking of the bourbon-aged ’06 version. This Old Ale has an incredible WOW factor. I still recall my first sip (a slap on the face by a enchanting barmaid). By the end of the first bottle, though, I had some criticism: the strong (though pleasing, like a decadent dessert) brown sugar/molasses/vanillin notes overpowered this brew’s otherwise superb range. The cellar has cured this...and now the Curmudgeon is firmly seated on my top 10 list!

A nice sweet caramel aroma. This is quite nice. A good hop flavor, some sweetness, a hint of caramel and molasses. A slightly coating finish, this reminds me of many barleywines.