Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

This isn’t my favorite style of beer but it’s a nice representation of the style. It has a nice caramel slightly fruity flavor. It’s sweet and bitter at the same time. The alcohol is very present. This is a sipper for sure.

Pours a rich, beautiful dark amber with a tightly knit tan head. The head is reasonable persistent, but does start to dissipate. Nicely developing Belgian lace. Rich, winy nose, with hints of cognac. Caramel, toffee, sherry, and dried fruits. Very moderate, but noticeable, hoppiness, with lingering caramel and malt notes on the palate. The roof of the mouth gets a sense of the level of alcohol, however, the alcohol level is not fully evident. Thus "caveat bibor" is appropriate. This is not a session beer or a vorspiel beer. Medium body with a sweet, long lingering. This is a multidimensional old ale. If I had the patience and cellar, I would attempt to age the Old Curmudgeon a few years to see how it develops. It should age well. A great ale to accompany hearty food and BBQ. The richness and residual sweetness would also work well with spicy food.

Amber brown, thick oily pour with a light lacy head. Aroma is unusual. Deeply malty with a lightly peppery nose. Lightly musty character as well. Lots of rich sweet vanilla, orange peel and a little bit of light dried fruit. Thick, unctuous mouthfeel. There is a little bit of light syrupy sweetness, toffee and even a little bit of cotton candy. Quite sticky and not all that boozy. There is a faint backnote that is hard to describe (perhaps slightly vegetal) that I’m not a fan of. Pretty assertive, earthy bitterness.

On tap at founders. Cloudy dark copper with medium, creamy beige head. Aroma is fresh hops, citrus, pine, dough, alc, sweet grapefruit. Flavor is sweeter dough malt, resiny and hot bitterness, a not too overwhelming alc presence, citrus and pine, mmmm. Medium to full and very creamy. Pretty extreme but outstanding at the same time like sucking on a bloodorange.

Pours a red-brown with a white head. Tons of particulates and yeast floating around. Aroma of caramel malts, yeast and alcohol. Alcohol is present throughout and somewhat balanced by woody and caramel flavors.

Bottle courtesy of bulldogp04. Poured a hazy amber with a thin beige head. Aroma is malt, caramel, wood and booze. Medium bodied with decent carbonation and tongue prickling alcohol. Flavor is very boozy, really tastes like bourbon was added. Also present are notes of vanilla, wood, spice, and rasin. Finishes like bourbon with lots of warming alcohol. Seems a little unrefined.

medium brown with medium white head. carbonation is moderate. nose of english hops and sweet malt. a fair degree of malt bitterness is the initial flavor, followed by a reasonable level of hop flavor, which finishes with a high degree of residual sweetness from unfermented sugars as well as some specific raisony crystal flavors. a very nice example of the style that improves as the beer warms to near room temp

Bottle at The Headkeeper. Pours a dark and hazy amber, average beige head, some lacing. Sweet malt, caramel and some subtle hop notes are noted in the aroma. The flavor profile is dominated by sweet malt, caramel, then touches of raisin, whiskey and/or bourbon and some subtle oak notes.