#175: Founders Brewing Co. » Devil Dancer 2012 & 2013 (Triple IPA)

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Devil Dancer (Triple IPA)
Availability: Draft and bottles (Limited)
ABV: 12% | 112 IBUs

The Story? At the end of 2012, I'd realized I'd dragged my heals on picking up one of Founders boldest releases, Devil Dancer. But, low and behold, one lonely bottle remained at Ithaca Coffee Company. The neck label had somehow slipped off and adhered itself right over the barcode, which made the transaction a bit interesting. Arriving home, I felt there was something special about this bottle and decided to cellar it until the following year. Normally, I wouldn't age an IPA, but with such a high ABV and hop content, I figured it was worth a shot.

Flash forward to this past holiday season and my good friends at The Westy have a bottle of 2013 waiting for me. Time for a comparison to see how things change.

2012 | Rating: 9.4/10
The Beer: This Devil wastes no time kicking the gate down with a huge, pungent nose full of sweet raisin and fruitcake... and booze, of course. A ring of ivory head caps the deep, murky copper body.

Massive mouthfeel, dense body with plentiful flavors of dates and hot hops. Even with over a year of aging, firm hop bitterness is still present throughout. Awesomely boozy, silky, and sticky, heading into barleywine territory, but drier and more burly. All that wrapped up with a nice dry finish. Wonderful.

2013 | 9/10
The Beer: This year's Devil is similarly represented, but the ring of head is white and the body more of a murky light brown, neither having darkened with age yet. The nose is similar, but with more of the dry hop shining through and not nearly as pungent and boozy. Sweet raisin aromas are still quite present.

Flavor-wise, 2013 bursts out much brighter with a pine and resin finish. There's still distinct raisin notes and high malt and booze presence, but with more bitter and bright and less spice and depth.

Overall, fresh or aged, Devil Dancer is in the top of Founder's 12 oz. offerings, but in this bloggers opinion the aromas, spice, and sweeping complexity is worth the wait.