Founders Barrel Aged Reds Rye

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Draft sample at MBGF Summer08. Poured a dark brown color with a moderate frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate to heavy roasted, citrus hop and woody aroma. Medium to full body. Medium to heavy bittersweet flavor with a medium bittersweet tingly finish of moderate duration. Solid drinkable brew.

2008 MiBGF: Slightly hazed crimson hue and a very good head and lace. The aroma has notes of dry-hopped pine and catty hops, rye, caramel, oak and vanilla, and a earthy yeast vapour.

The taste is driven by a forward rye snap and layered with caramel malt. The finish is where the bourbon barrel shows it’s colors, vanilla, booze, and spice. There is even a hint of mint in there. The mouth feel is aggressive and biting yet uniquely drinkable. OUTSTANDING and the best beer of day 1.

Enjoyed on tap at the brewpub. Bourbon aroma. Nice looking, significantly lacey. A bit cold and assertive carbonation, still above-average mouthfeel. Getting more coconut than wood from barreling.

Big thanks to markwise for bringing this all the way back from the land of plenty, beerwise (MI). It pours deep copper with off white head. The aroma is oak, bourbon booze, sweetness, hints of some sort of beer deep in the background covered by a thorny bush and tempting you to discern its aromatics. I couldn’t. The taste is smooth and sweet to start moving into oak, vanilla and a slight twang of rye. Midway bourbon and oak come to the front and crush the other flavor notes into submission. It runs toward dry booze, mild roastiness and oak into the finish. It ends with enough body and base beer to give you the sense that it’s about 10% of the way to being balanced.

On tap at Founders. Murky orange-brown body, thin off-white head. Sharp nose with potent bourbon, oak, sweet, caramely malt, toast, and citrusy hops. Boozy and dessert-like. The body bowled me over with bourbon and buttery oak, the bourbon overwhelming the Red’s Rye characteristics. In fact, this beer tasted like a shot of bourbon with some lingering, residual hops and toasty malts added as flavoring. This would be excellent if the oak was toned down, and if there was a stronger fresh hops component.

Wonderful nose of oak, vanilla, bourbon, caramel malts emanating from this pour, crimson and oily looking. The hop hit of the original Red’s is really mellowed out here, layered under the big sticky sweet caramel malt, tannins, bourbon, and vanilla, that barrel aging created. Brilliant!

Hand bottle courtesy of markwise. Pours a clear dark amber color with reddish highlights and thin off-white head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of bourbon, vanilla, oak, smoke, chocolate, ripe dark fruit. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, ripe dark fruit, caramel, grain. Generally medium body with a pleasing boozy finish.

On tap at the GTMW. Amber with a medium white head. Aroma of bourbon up front with some citrus, cereal grain and light oak to go with it. I taste the rye up front and nice citrus hops on the finish. In between there’s some mild bourbon, sweet malt and a touch of oak. Creamy textured beer is a bit oily on the palate and it has a moderate citrus bitter finish.