Founders Cashew Mountain Brown

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Date: September 10, 2011
Mode: Draft
Source: The Porter, Atlanta
Appearance: cloudy dark brown with ruby highlights, creamy beige head
Aroma: sweet nutty spicy aroma
Flavor: sweet bourbon and chocolate flavor, lots of vanilla, light nutty character
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.8/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***+ /4

MBGSF 2011. Poured dark brown with a moderate frothy light brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate to heavy toasted malt, maple wood with a small alcohol aroma. Full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Heavy maple sweet flavor with a heavy complex sweet finish of long duration. This is a another standout beer in this barrel series.

From notes at Capone’s during PBW 2011. Poured hazy brown with off-white head. Nose was earthy oak, brown sugar, maple, cashew. Tasted rich, very complex, with earthy brown sugary malt up front, and a delicious late hit of cashews, maple, and oaky vanilla. This one was delicious.

Poured a murky brown color with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of vanilla, nuts, caramel malts, wood, light smoke, and some alcohol. Taste of caramel malts, burnt wood, nuts, vanilla, and alcohol in the finish.

On tap at Jose Pistola’s. Served in a tulip. Pours a cloudy dark brown with a very thin off-white head. A thin collar for part of its unfortunately short-lived time in my glass. The nose has a lot of maple and a moderate amount of bourbon plus some light cashew character. The flavor brings a moderate amount of bourbon that is overlayed with a heavy maple character and a bit of sweetness. Moderate cashew and overall nutty character throughout. Creamy with some sweetness. Lots of nuttiness in the feel. Light booze. Uber solid. Overall, this basically tastes like candied nuts that have been dipped in maple syrup and have a dot of bourbon on top. Reminds me of the Bavarian Nuts at Plymouth, Indiana’s own Blueberry Festival. That’s a high complement. As it warms, some more toffee comes out, along with a touch of oak and a mild vanilla presence. Given that it’s a beer from Founders, I’ll say I’m not even remotely surprised that this is so delicious. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 06-12-2011

UPDATED: AUG 15, 2011 Draft on tap at Great Taste of the Midwest 2011 (Madison, WI). Pours a nice deep reddish brown hue, a light haze as a healthy glow gets through. A frothy small tannish head dies to a film, laces small. Aromas are nutty, some toffee, brown malts, bread, and toast. Some wet oak, vanilla, not spirity with a nice deeper dark sweet malt. Initial is earthy nuts, tobbacco, touches of dry barrel tannins, wet oak, toffee, maple and vanilla. Some toast, dry and nutty, caramel, a lot of toasted caramel, a bit hot abv wise but not from the barrel. Kinda a mess, with some dry boozy finish.

Draft at Great Taste. Pours a translucent brown with red at the edges and a fizzy head. Nose is pretty neutral, some cocoa and some faint mapley notes. A bit nutty as well. On taste, it fails because it is underbodied. With more mouthfeel, this would be a much better beer. As it stands, there is a faint cashew note and cocoa, but the abv is too high and the barrel seems to wash out the base beer. Needs work.

On tap at Founders brewery. Murky brown with a thin tan head. Aroma of bourbon, nuts, malt, cashews and light wood. Taste is excellent with cashew, light oak, brown sugar, nuts, sweet malt and mild alcohol. A touch of artificial sweetness detracts a bit, but this beer is good shit!

Draft at the Blue Dog during Wealth of Riches. Poured a hazy brown body with a smalloff white head. Aroma is phenomenal with notes of brown bread, cashews, maple syrup. The body has a touch of alcohol heat over a medium body and strong carbonation for a barrel aged beer. Lingering aftertaste and a syrupy feel overall. Flavor of dark bread, maple syrup, alcohol and a hint of nutts on the end. Awesome stuff.

On tap at the brewpub. Pours a deep brown colored body with a finger-width, dense and creamy, light brownish beige head that dissipates slowly and leaves lots of lacing throughout. Gorgeous looking beer. Aroma is quite nice. Lots of nutty bourbon, smooth oak, sweet caramel, brown sugar and maple, a soft vanilla, a hint of roast, and a touch of chocolate. Excellent, well balanced barrel-aged aroma. Flavor is similar. Lots of smooth maple and nuts up front with a sweeter caramel and very nice bourbon-vanilla. Sweetness grows a bit in the middle with some oak coming in along with a hint of roast. Finishes very smooth and pretty sweet with lots of nuts, a pleasant vanilla-bourbon-oak, some maple, a few dark fruit notes, a touch of roast, and just the slightest hint of alcohol warmth. Very light bitterness that slowly dries and leaves a pretty lengthy aftertaste. Medium, very smooth and creamy body with a soft, moderate carbonation. Overall, an excellent beer. Great aroma and fairly sweet flavor with lots of nuts and a pleasant balance between the caramel and bourbon-vanilla-oak. Damn good.