Founders Cashew Mountain Brown

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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On tap at Founders in Grand Rapids. Big, luscious, velvety, nutty, oaky, sexy. Really a quality imperial brown ale here. The pour was pretty, with a big, creamy, lush, silky, deep cream head, and deep mahogany. A thick, yet delicate aroma. Wood and nuts are the main players. Also, rich toffee, sweet dark malts, a earthy/leafy bitter, and slight honey wine. All notes in the nose blend together nicely. The feel is thick and creamy, but more than that. More like rich, velvety smooth, with many strong, distinguishable flavors, and balanced just slightly toward the sweet side. Sweet, rich toffees, bourbon, nutty cookies, almonds, cashews, dates (sort of like a Lara Bar), other dark fruits, and earthy wood. It finishes with dark fruits, nuts, and creamy toffee. This was far and away the standout on a 3 state, 10 brewery, beer road trip. Really, really good.

From notes. First reviewed 8/21/2011. Served on tap in a cervoise at the Great Taste of the Midwest. My pours has a full walnut brown color with a light red tint. A small tan cap disappears almost instantly. This aroma is supposed to be full of cashew, cocoa, and bourbon. Instead I get a very light tofffee and caramel malt aroma with a lot of ethyl alcohol. There is a little bit of cashew in the background, but I have to dig to find it. The flavor has a little bit of maple syrup, some toffee and bready malt up front, then a touch of cashew, a little bourbon, and some fusel alcohol flavors. It is being generous to say this tastes like a boozy brown ale. The mouthfeel is full bodied, with carbonation near the creamy end of the spectrum. The boozy nature of the beer warms the throat and stomach. A little bit oily, a little bit sticky. This was the most disappointing beer I had at the Great Taste. I was really looking forward to this, and as the first beer of the day, it was a huge dud. It is probably worth trying again to see if this was a bad batch; I would never expected this from Founders.

Cashew, maple, bourbon, caramel jump right off the nose and create a symphony of smell. Appearance was perfect, nice medium golden brown, heavy lacing, nice head and retention. Taste phenominal; one of the best beers I have ever had. Great palate feel, viscous without being too heavy. Overall, the only thing that could pose as a down side is that it was too easy to drink. I got blasted off this beer and almost missed Bells Black Note the next night.

UPDATED: JAN 26, 2012 Had this at the blue dog. Wow.Alot going on . The carmel maple and booze hit the nose. The tastes keep maturing one after another and match the nose . Some fruit notes late alcohol hit and sweet hop aftertaste . You can go way wrong on the pallet with this much in one beer but they aced it. Add to you list of must try. ..on par with a great bw or russian imp.

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

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.

Pours dark amber with no head. Aroma is of syrup, whiskey, cashews and some malts. Lots of whiskey, caramel, some cashews, roasted malts and syrup. Syrup feel throughout, lots of whiskey feel in finish.

The awesome aroma is sweet brown ale malts with dominant cashew in the nose, WOW!. It pours medium amber brown with a very light almost nonexistent head. The flavor is a sweet, nutty, boozy imperial brown ale with an almost sweet liqueur syrupy body. The maple notes help with the booze to round out this amazing beer.

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 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.

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.