Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

355 mL into snifter. Wow this looks good: a clear strawberry with a huge, thick, yellow head that has excellent retention and leaves lots of lacing. Aroma is earthy, caramel, maple syrup, rich creme brulee, peat, New York cheesecake. Smells like Imperial Stout a little bit. Flavor is like an easier to drink barleywine. There are sweet creme brulee and caramel notes backed by some serious spicy hops. Quick finish making you want more. The near 10% is completely hidden. This beer is insanely good.

Poured a hazy, muddy orange color with lots of sediment (no matter how much I tried to minimize this) with no head to speak of. Aroma is bourbon. Period. Flavor is dominated by bourbon, but dark fruit and peaches emerge along with some woodiness. Warm, bitter, dry finish. A well crafted and complex beer.

Bottle, bought @ Ølbutikken, Cph.
Pours deep brownish red with a slight haze to it. Fine, staying, creamy, off-white head. Super lacings. Aroma has fat caramel, port, raisins, light vinious, chocolate and a bit of fruity hops. Low to medium carbonation, lovely oily mouthfeel. Flavour is sweet, port, oak, roasted, light chocolate, caramel. Fairly vinious. Lovely hoppy finish with some raisins and a touch of dark chocolate. Good beer.

Dark amber with a small off-white head that leaves a ring of lacings. The smell is malty (caramel and fudge) with notes of ripe fruit (grapes, strawberries?) vanilla and spices. It’s a rather rich smell. It’s good, but something seems off, like it’s going downhill or something. A malt-forward taste with pleasant flavors of caramel and toffee. Lots of fruity notes. The taste is sweet but balancing spicy notes level the sweetness. Here’s also an interesting note of vanilla. The finish has some nice bitterness to it and notes of wood and malts. Medium body with a rather creamy and slick texture. A decent beer. But Old ales raise my expectations and this one didn’t really meet them. There are far better examples of the style. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Location: 12 oz bottle from Norm’s, 11/16/09

Aroma: Gives off both sweet an alcoholic, notes of bourbon, orange, caramel, other fruits, a bit of earthiness, and some vanilla
Appearance: This one pours a cloudy dark red-orange color with almost no head to speak of, it leaves very light/spotty lace
Flavor: Tastes of sweet malts, some sugar, with kind of an orange-bourbon feel, plus a touch of spice, and a mild hop backing
Palate: This beer has a pretty full body, there is also some minimal carbonation and a bit of alcohol burn
Overall Impression: This beer is a bit strange, almost a hybrid orange-bourbon-beer combination type of thing. Hard to describe, but not completely outside the norm. It does have many of the typical Old Ale and Barleywine characteristic, but it also has some unusual characteristics to it as well. I like this one, but I’m not sure I’d want to drink it regularly. On the other hand, it is very interesting, and does appear to be pretty well-made, so I’m split. I’m going to give the overall score a boost for the creativity, even if the other scores don’t indicate it being quite that high.

Brown, lingering beige head, light lacing. Aroma is toasty, a bit of butterscotch, light alcohol. Flavour of light alcohol, again butterscotch, some dark fruits, malty, some oxidization. Smooth mouthfeel, medium body, moderate carbonation. Finishes long, moderately bitter, dry.

This really dries out at the end, lots of butterscotch. Still good but might be a bit old.

355ml bottle shared by beerhugger, thanks Steve.
Opened on February 13, 2009.
No date.

Bottle pours golden amber with a small white head. Aroma is intense with bourbon and sweet malt notes. Flavor is sweet malts initially with a bourbon, alcohol, and bitter finish. Medium bodied and very smooth. Enjoy in moderation is right.

Bottle from Beermerchants.com. Hazy, red copper with sediment and a small, creamy tan head. Complex toffee and raisins aroma, yet not overly sweet. nuts, raisins, chocolate and coconut flavours- on the sweet side, but good. The perfect night cap.