Founders - Curmudgeon's Better Half (2018)

Likely no yeast in their, assuming it's filtered, then sitting in a spirit barrel for an extended period of time.

 

I bought out the few places near me that still had it after getting my initial 4 pack several weeks back. Fantastic! I likely need to revise my rating to 4.75 overall. Have 22 bottles on my rack. This will be a nice holiday brew and "maybe" I'll share a few with my father and son in law. LOL!

 

Having one right now. For such a high ABV, this goes down easy. Maple syrup, oak, bourbon, malty, mild bitterness! Delicious!

 

I found it fabulous. May be my favorite BA Founders brew. I like alot of them. Founders in knocking it out of the park last 12mo. with their barrel aged series.

 

Had it last night-delicious. VERY sweet and at 12.7 it's a sipper.Another outstanding beer from Founders.

 

Anyone who remembers the original release - how does this release compare? Is it night and day? Pretty close? very different?

 

I had the original Better Half only twice. On draft, it blew me away. A bottle that was aged four years was very good, but not stellar. I'd say that the new production is nearly as good as the original. Perhaps it's slightly hotter and very slightly less complex, but it's difficult to say this with confidence, given the amount of time that has elapsed.

 

I don't get all the comments on this being excessively sweet. I'm not a fan of very sweet, sugary beer and this one isn't a sugar bomb by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, the sweetness is there, as is the case with many super-high ABV beers, but it's by no means excessive. There's sweet and there's a nauseating style of sweet, such as with Ommegang Blonde. Better Half isn't that type of a sickening sweet.

 

My guess is that if you are used to drinking hop bombs you will find this to be too sweet.

 

Likely. Everything seems to be an IPA these days and is what most gravitate too. I'd like to see fewer, new IPA's hitting the shelves and more creative Ale's....rich big Ale's as well.

Quite honestly, enough new IPA's already. The market is beyond flooded with countless IPA's that taste very similar to one another. I really don't need another.

 

Grabbed a 4 pack this weekend, first time I saw it in stores here in South FL (Total Wine). $19.99 for a four pack, but individual bottles were selling for $3.99.

 

Ummm...so, it would've been cheaper to buy singles. That doesn't make any sense. And why such a huge mark-up?

 

I agree it doesn't make sense but my favorite store often adds bottles from pricey 4 packs and 6 packs to the "mix a six" section for $9.99

 

Yeah I even went up to an employee at the store to see if that was a mistake and he said it was coming up at 3.99 in their system, so I just had them ring up 4 singles.

 

I picked up a four pack a few days ago and finally got around to cracking one open last night during the game. I found it to be sweet but not overbearingly so. I got several big hits of booze from it... I think with a little time it should settle down really nicely. As is it's good but I think it will improve with some time

 

What the hell is wrong with so many of you? "Too sweet" Seriously? As if you aren't aware that it was aged in MAPLE SYRUP bourbon barrels. That's like complaining about a (D)IPA being too hoppy. Or a NEIPA being too cloudy/hazy. Or water being too wet. And if you couldn't taste maple syrup/sweetness in it, then you'd be complaining about it not being sweet enough or not having enough maple syrup flavor in it.

 

If I order a spicy dish at a restaurant, I don't expect to be served nothing but a pile of ghost peppers. Sure, I wanted spicy, but...

Yes, I expected this beer to be sweet, but...

 

Yeah, but if something contains ghost peppers, you should expect it to be very hot.

 

There is plenty of BB on shelves near me

 

I might by another 4pack to age some. I didn't think it was overly sweet. It might not the most complex barrel aged beer but it was good. I like kbs or FIS better, but this or backwoods bastard are nice winter sippers too