#294: Founders Brewing Co. » Big Lushious (Imperial Stout)

Founders Brewing Co. » Big Lushious (Imperial Stout) | ABV: 7.8%
Founders brings us Big Lushious for the winter edition of their Backstage Series - a stout brewed with chocolate & raspberries. On the eve of my almost-three-week break from my day job, I was anticipating the freedom of the following afternoon. Big Lushious seemed like a great beer to indulge with, while still retaining coherence in the morning.

This rich brew starts off with a decadent nose of succulent, chocolate covered raspberries and a hint of spice exuding from the dark, bubbly brown body and deep tan head.

Onto the palate, Big Lushious is silky and quite sweet. Big tart raspberry flavors rush through with a hint of cola, concluding with a wet finish. Further through, this beer becomes a sumptuous blend of port and raspberry truffles with subtle threads of cherry cola, red velvet cake, and chocolate syrup.

Big Lushious is a desert beer through and through and a lovely edition to sociable, warming ports & ice wines.

#259: Founders » Dissenter (IIPL)

Founders » Dissenter (Imperial India Pale Lager)
ABV: 8.7% | IBUs: 70 | Rating: 9.2

I found myself lucky enough to enjoy Founders' latest Backstage Series on draft and bottles within a weeks time. At first, I thought an IPL was a bit lackluster for the series, compared to some of the jaw dropping creativity in previous editions, but then seeing the word 'Imperial' and that Founders' hadn't released a lager in twelve years... I trust those Michigan folks with what they're doing. And rightfully so.

A highly alluring plume of huge aromatic hops is apparent event from a distance, emitting from a translucent golden body and fluffy, fading, lacy head.

Grapefruit, pith, and grass notes are abound in the nose with a touch of resin.

For the bottle, the flavor is tight and bitter, even venturing into mildly astringent with it's dry finish. The body is light and quite lager-like, sporting a mild mouthcoat for such robust hop-forwardness.

Ongoing swarms of yellow grapefruit and tons of rind flavors delightfully pummel the palate with the very slightest flip of sweetness on the finish, that's just faintly apparent in the nose as well, reminiscent of mild honey.

On draft, the nose is a blend of juicy citrus and herbal notes in the nose followed up all smooth, hoppy, and spicy. Prickly carbonation kicks off each sip, then settling in, and drying in the far finish.

An excellent, well-balanced and unique hop experience that's not too punch-in-the-face. Worth checking out on draft and bottles.

#232: Bottle Share: Victory Mad King's Weiss, Sam Adams Longshot Gratzer, Founders Rübæus, Elysian Oddland #2, Dogfish Burton Baton, Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

First in a series of summer '14 bottle shares!

Victory Brewing Co. » Mad King's Weiss (Hefeweizen) | ABV: 6.2% | Rating: 8.6/10
I was delighted to see one of my favorite draft-only offerings from Victory had made it's way to bomber status. It's not as rich as I recall, but still packed with Golden Belgian-style spiced goodness, wonderful wheat and yeast notes and at around $5 a pop, it's a steal.

Samuel Adams » Longshot Grätzer | ABV: 4.4% | Rating: 8/10
An excellent brew for summer. Soft smoke notes and a touch of tartness backed by smooth, drinkable wheat and soft bitterness. Not as complex and sour as some more traditional Gratzers, but brew worth trying for sure. It's rare you'll see a Sam Adams on this blog, so take that for what it's worth. A great value for a still rare old style.

Founders » Rübæus | ABV: 5.7% | IBUs: 15% | Rating: 9.1/10
My second round of Rübæus this summer, Founders once again shows they do fruit beer like no other. Packed with juicy, tart, and semi-sweet raspberry notes, it's massively drinkable, but still an ale. The raspberry never dips into tart, Lambic territory and remains fresh. A delightful warm weather alternative brew.

Elysian Brewing » Oddland Spiced Pear Ale | ABV: 6.5% | Rating: 8.8/10
Brewed once as the second installment of Elysian's Oddland series, this brew is an ale brewed with pear, cumin, and cardamon. We were all expecting something in the fruity, juicy spiced-peary realm, but instead got an adventurous, spice-packed, hardy ale with considerable more hops that expected. The cascade and saaz hops pack a firm punch of hops, providing a solid backbone to ride the savory, spicy, and herbal exotic dance of cumin & cardamon. This one won't be for everyone, for sure, but this was the unexpected standout of the night.

Dogfish Head » Burton Baton | ABV: 10% | IBUs: 70 | Rating: 9.3/10
As a hybrid of English Old Ale and American Imperial IPA, this is easily and predictably my favorite of the night. Silky sweet Old Ale malt notes notes elegantly dance with dense, but softened hop flavors. Citrus, vanilla, and oak notes are perfectly balanced. Tasteful bourbon notes are threaded throughout, but the ABV is well-mellowed making for a dangerously drinkable whopper of a brew.

Sierra Nevada » Hoptimum 2014 | ABV: 10.4% | Rating: 8.5/10
There was a lot of discussion before popping open this one. 100 IBUs will do that. The majority of us are hop lovers and IPA fans, but were seemingly in agreement that there's definitely a "too far" when it comes to the hop-arms race of recent years.

Cracking into this year's batch, Hoptimum screams out with biting, bitter grass notes, sharp pine, and astringent citrus rind. There's almost an herbal quality to the brew, being so hop-forward. While the Magnum, Chinook, and Simcoe hops are relentless, the 10.4% provides some relief. I'd honestly love to see this brew barrel aged and show a bit more dynamic character. Overall, a hop-head must try and the last word in bitter, massive Imperial IPAs.

#214: Founders Brewing » KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout)

The legend...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout)
Availability: Draft and bottles (Seasonal, Limited)
ABV: 11.2% | 70 IBUs
Rating: 9.5/10
Location: Home
Found: Fingerlakes Beverage Center

Founder's KBS has become legend to say the least, even garnering RateBeer's "Best Beer in America", It's brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year. As with many sought-after, highly limited brews, living in a small city sometimes means missing out, which so far has been the case for me with KBS. That said, FLBC delivered once again.

KBS pours up with a voluminous mocha head that's bubbly and a bit fizzy, but with plenty of lace atop an opaque brown-black body. A strikingly bitter nose of coffee, cocoa powder, and oak gets things rolling.

Fantastic, flavors careen through mildly bitter, dry, to a sweet easing finish. Big bold flavors of roasted coffee, baking chocolate, along with charred notes blur into dark chocolate, chili and booze spice, and all wrap up with a smooth, sweet chocolate finale.

Incredibly and original with an insanely deft balance of bold flavors and augmentations - the chocolate, oak, coffee, nor bourbon ever get too powerful on their own. Highly recommended, obviously.

#180: Founders Brewing » Harvest Ale

Juicy, hop goodness...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Harvest Ale
Availability: Draft and bottles (Seasonal, Limited)
ABV: 7.6% | 70 IBUs
Rating: 9.2/10
Location: Home
Found: Fingerlakes Beverage Center

The Story? I was on a bit of a Harvest Ale kick last year, but wasn't able to track down Founders when it was initially hit in the fall. Released only in October of each year, I thought I'd miss the boat, but this weekend proved otherwise and I'm sure glad for it!

The Beer? This Harvest pours our translucent golden straw with a quickly fading white head and minimal lacing. The nose is beautiful and full of rip, juicy orange aromas.

Down the hatch, Founders has nails it again with a smooth, long citrus flavor with just a touch of bitterness on the finish. Plentiful orange, tangerine, and sweet red grapefruit flavors are abound. There's a soft resin and pine that build on each other further through with soft esters in the finish. Toasted, bready malts say hello later on, but just enough to provide balance and support. This one really pulls you in and immerses you in hop glory. It's never floral, but there are soft oil and herb tucked within.

Overall, a wonderfully juicy take on the wet-hop, harvest style. Incredibly drinkable hop-nectar.

#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.

#159: Founders Brewing Co. Sweet Repute (Barrel-Aged Wheatwine)

Sweet bliss...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.(Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Sweet Repute (Barrel-Aged Wheatwine)
Availability: Draft and bottles (limited)
ABV: 12.6%
Rating: 9.5/10
Location: Tug Hill (Cabin)
Found: Fingerlakes Beverage Center

The Story? I stopped down to Fingerlakes Beverage Center to pick up something special for our anniversary trek up to the Tug Hill Plateau. I didn't have anything particular in mind, but figured this time of year there's always something limited, outrageous, and boozy to be found. And boy, did I find it.

I always try to grab a bottle of Founders Backstage series whenever it arrives. I missed the Mango Magnifico release, so when I saw their latest, Sweet Repute, staring back, their was no hesitation. This sweet beast is one-hundred percent barrel aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels and bourbon barrels over the course of sixteen months, then blended using carefully calculated ratios for the delivered brew. Wowzah.

The Beer? Sweet Repute opens with a big nose of honey and bourbon. Subtler notes of maple and oak are present as well after a more focus whiff. There's a touch of white head atop it's hazy gold body. Enough talk... time to drink.

This is booze-candy. Straight up. This isn't even beer - angel-tears nectar maybe? Strong flavors of caramel, candy sugar, vanilla, cream soda, toffee and a hefty dose of butterscotch make for a delicious start right out of the gate. It's boozy, as the 12.6% would infer, but with a medium body and gradual mouthcoat. Excellent.

Further through, roasted toffee notes emerge in the finish and the maple and bourbon flavors build, giving it more of a bite. This is no shy beer and more full bodied than more wheatwines I've encountered. There's even a bit of spruce and herbal notes on the front end of the second glass.

Overall, a truly expert crafted beer. It won't be for everyone, but for those it's for, it's luscious euphoria. A sweet/strong benchmark.

#135: Founders Brewing Co. » Centennial (IPA)

I need to post more from Founders...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Centennial (IPA)
Availability: Draft and bottles (Year-Round)
ABV: 7.2% | 65 IBUs
Rating: 9/10
Location: Felicia's Atomic Lounge

The Story? Despite Founders being one of my favorite U.S. breweries, I've only posted about them three times prior. I'm going to remedy that.

If you somehow haven't given their line a try, I'd highly suggest anything they put out. In my book, Founders has one of the best track records for putting out consistently high-quality brews. I've never had a single beer from them that I didn't enjoy or wasn't impressed by.

This one was a pleasant draft surprise stopping into Felecia's last week. '

The Beer? An earthy nose of soft, aromatic hops starts things off for this deep-amber hued brew. The taste starts off minerally, smooth and very drinkable. There's a touch of heat in the hop bitterness as well.

Bitter grapefruit flavors dominate taste, but never become overbearing, and are complimented by citrus pith and slight boozy esters. The bitterness swells on the sides of the tongue a quarter of the way through while the sweet malts begin to creep through. Further on, broader citrus flavors arise with notes of caramel and pepper.

A superb, readily available offering that sounds out amongst the thousands of IPAs.

#050: Founders Porter

Another black beauty from Founders...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Porter
Availability: Draft and bottles (Year-Round)
ABV: 6.5% | 45 IBUs
Rating: 9/10

The Story? There's usually a few unopened cans or bottles hanging around after hosting a bit of a gathering. Usually a session beer or two. That said, what I didn't expect the morning after birthday shindiggery #2 was a bottle of Founders' world-class Porter casually hanging out in the back of my fridge. Well, don't mind if I do...

The Beer? A foamy, moacha-colored and very lacy head rises quickly after a semi-gentile pour - a bit too quickly this time. Minor clean up needed, so watch out for that. Silky, jet-black coloring. A deep, malty nose with wonderful roasted flavors. Smooth mouthfeel up front followed by a sharp, sudden dryness in the finish. Very drinkable, with breaks.
I like it.

This brew has an excellent, dark bitterness to it. A full-flavored Porter with robust hops and roasted malts, followed by hints of chocolate, caramel, and mocha; without ever getting sweet or resorting to additives. An impressive display of Founder's year-round prowess and one of the best porters available, especially in 12 oz, 6-pack form. Highly recommended to any dark beer lover.

#030: Founders Curmudgeon (Old Ale)

This elusive Old Ale finally finds my pallet...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.(Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Curmudgeon (Old Ale)
Availability: Draft and bottles (Seasonal)
ABV: 9.8% | 50 IBUs
Rating: 9/10
Location: Blue Monk (Buffalo, NY)

The Story? I was on a bit of an old ale kick early in the year, coinciding with the pending seasonal release of Founders Curmudgeon - an old ale brewed with molasses, then oak-aged. As with any Founders seasonal, I waited with ample anticipation, but alas, the Curmudgeon season came and went and I missed out... or so I thought.

On tour, our crew decided to treat ourselves to excellent burgers and top-shelf brews at the lauded Blue Monk. Curmudgeon eased what would have been a tough decision amongst so many stellar ales.

The Beer? Aesthetically, we're met with a creamy head and caramel color, while bitter notes and alcoholic raisin waft through the nose.

Open wide and we have a powerfully smooth blend of strong malts, bitter hops, and boozy oak. The molasses is an excellent addition. Delightfully easy down. Raisin, brown sugar, a hint of earth, toffee, and oak could all appear on your taste-punch card, but all swimming together in harmony.

On paper, this old ale sounds like it would tip the sweet scale with such heavy emphasis on and plethora of malts - plus molasses - but instead, the excellent balance of hops and maturing, smoothing nature of oak-aging (a staple of all my favorite old ales and barelywines) combines to create a deceptively drinkable and deliciously balanced take on a classic style.

#017: Founders Brewing Co. - Doom (Oak Aged Imperial IPA)

Our first visit with this oak-aged version of their delicious Double Trouble IPA...

The Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.(Grand Rapids, MI)
The Brew: Doom 2013 (Oak-Aged Imperial IPA)
Availability: Draft and bottles (limited)
ABV: 10%
Rating: 10/10
Location: The Westy

The Story? Any of Founders' "Backstage Series" is always a quick hit to the wishlist, followed by some sort of seance or offering in hope that we can actually score a bottle before they sell out. Luckily enough, my partner and I hit such a score with a beautiful bottle of Doom. Shortly thereafter, we learned the owner of The Westy (our favorite draft beer stop in Ithaca) had hoped to obtain this wondrous brew for their taps, but alas, missed out. Since he provides us with such wonderful libations on a regular basis, we saw it fitting to track down another bottle to share. A few weeks of searching later, bottle #2 was procured.

For those new to this impending Doom, the brew is the result of Founders' award-winning specialty Imperial IPA, "Double Trouble", being aged in bourbon barrels - a method more commonly reserved for maltier beers such as stouts and barleywines in the past, but now being applied to hefty IPAs as well.

The Beer? Wonderful caramel color with almost no head. Big, smooth taste up front. An equally big, hoppy breath in with a nice whiskey burn on the way down. Boozy, with hints of coconut. Very smooth and perfectly balanced. With the second glass, we see increased hop presence as the beer takes on drier notes with an even boozier breath.

Overall a well-balanced, drinkable, intense, but mature beer. Looking forward to how it ages a bit. Plenty of hops and bourbon present, but neither overpowers as they compliment one another. Hoppy, with sweet notes and plenty of alcohol presence. A very complex, rich take on a high-gravity IPA.