Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

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

12 oz. bottle from Buffalohead on 5/23/2008. The bottle itself has "05" below the label. Hazy brown pour with a very spare, wispy thin head. Complex aroma includes caramel, raisins, chocloate, spice, oak, and vanilla. Medium body, low carbonation, smooth and rich mouthfeel.

Sweet malt flavors dominate, caramel and brown sugar are quite evident. Balance comes in the form of an earthy and spicy bitterness that makes for a very pleasing finish.

murky brown and smells of toffey vanillaand alcohol.ohhhh i like it......it shas a sharp bite then toffey and coconut and some vanilla. the alcohol is not that well hidden but its not unbearable and the outh feel is great. I really wasnt expecting to like this butI am quickly becoming a fan

Bottle 2006. THIS IS FANTASTIC. Pours amber brown and cloudy. This is 9.3abv and this good jeez why buy a session beer when u can treat a 4 pack of this just like one. Bourbon, oak, vanilla. Very oaked finish and a nice warming etoh but kindly. Second impression is in accord. I may have to second think my favorite founders beer.

This was the only beer I have had from this company that has sucked ass but suck ass it did! Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a hazy dark red-brown with a trace of a tan head. The aroma was sweetish and oddly spicy. Very hard to get a handle on what the odd aroma element was. The flavor was bitter, tangy and overwhelmingly odd - spicy candied coconut was the closest I could get to identifying the weird flavor that totally dominated this beer. The odd flavor became almost painful. I had real trouble finishing the glass of this mess and would have drain poured it if I had not been at a bar.

Pours a rich amber color with lots of suspended particulates and small creamy off white head. Nose is sweet, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, bourbon and vanilla! Initial taste of bourbon, rich caramel and brown sugar. Malty, rich and smooth. Vanilla and dark fruits on the mid palate. Finishing with good hop balance, warming alcohol and palate duration. Good head retention and some spot lacing of the glass. Medium to full body.

A- Pours a deep, amber with a 1.5 finger, eggshell head that fades fairly quickly. S- Smell is very malty, with a deep piney hoppiness that reminds me of bigfoot. T- Taste is very malty, caramel, with too much hop influence throughout the middle. M- Thick with a bit too much carbonation. D- I wasn’t too impressed by this one. Not bad but it just didn’t have that raisin and fig influence that I love in old ales.

’08 Bottle: Courtesy of cmr1517. Murky, blood amber pour with no head. Wow is this intense...caramel and dark malts, peat and dark fruits run rampant, yet meld well together. Full bodied mouth feel yields a massive caramel malt, raisin and smoked dark fruit flavor. I typically don’t like any type of smokiness to my brews, but this was incredible. Awesome stuff.

Bottle from jjpm74. Thanks again John! The pour was a turbid brown with some lighter copper highlights. A nice off-white that was almost two-fingers tall popped up and provided some lacing. The aroma is almost all malt with some light citrus coming through early and some bourbon/alcohol emerging as it opened up. The flavor was aggressive malt with light herbal notes and some citrus. The bourbon is definitely a player in this one. You won’t miss it. The mouthfeel is very nice and this beer is very drinkable. Nice.