Founders Fall Winter Variety Pack

Yeah I'll be picking that up if I see it. Love all 4 styles. I mean there are plenty of variety packs where I'm only interested in maybe 1 or 2 of the beers so its rare to get excited about all 4.

 

will if available. no question.

 

Wow, beer styles in a variety pack that I would actually drink?!

 

Founders is one of the sellouts I stay away from. They’ve completely ruined everything about the brand. Packaging is an abomination. They really have to come out with something amazing for me to buy. This 4 pack definitely ain’t it. I’m perfectly fine with never having another KBS, CBS or regular Breakfast stout ever again in my life. No desire to support what they’ve done to a once great Midwest brewery.
Lagunitas, Stone, Bells isn’t fare behind but they’re at least recognizable to 10 years ago. They at least don’t seem like they’re being run by some person in a high rise city office who drinks maybe 1 beer a year….

 

I feel like this is a bit extreme given the styles that are in the pack. They clearly have craft drinkers in mind. I'll admit they've put out some variety packs in the past that resemble something Sam Adam's would put out but this ain't it. I implore you to visit the headquarters in GR. One look at their typical tap list makes it clear that there is definitely still some creativity in what they decide to produce, although most of it never makes it to public release, I'm sure for financial reasons. Cheers.

 

Nothing high abv, over the top adjunct-laden, or an IPA. That's pretty rare these days.

I'm assuming the average consumer could care less about a standard Bock and an Oatmeal Stout. They probably don't even know what they are.

Surprised it took this long to start this thread, I saw this in stores a month or so ago and did a double take. This is a unique pack for a widely distributed brand. Can you imagine Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, or New Belgium putting out a pack like this?

 

No, absolutely not. I think Founders is making a tremendous effort by taking the risk of mass producing this and sending it across the country. Hoping it's well received and thus far it seems to be, at least in my neck of the woods. Which may or may not be a significant statement.

 

This came pretty close IMO

 

Never saw this in my area but this is really cool.

 

That got broken up at my local so I tried them all. It's not all hazy IPAs, but it's still IPA-dominant. The Founders one is definitely far more of a leap than this.

The one this year was a bit more balanced with Tumbler in it in place of Hop Hunter.

https://sierranevada.com/brews/fanatic-pack

 

Agreed, I definitely haven’t seen a more “traditional” style focused pack than the Founders one in quite some time. Also to your earlier point, I could not imagine SA doing something like this which is very sad because they had some great brews back in the day.

Kind of awesome for founders to put something out like this, definitely banking on the old school hop heads to get excited about new porters and stouts, something that’s been missing from the market for a while.

 

Sam Adams winter pack this year technically doesn't have an IPA or adjunct-laden imperial stout in the mix, but it's not the same as the Founders one in my opinion.

Winter Lager, Fezziwig, Holiday White, Oaked Vanilla Porter.

 

Saw this at Total Wine a few weeks ago. I don't care for the vanilla porter but I was a bit interested in the other beers. It sold out very quickly though.

 

The holiday white to the winter pack is like the Jack-o to the fall pack. Just can’t stomach it enough to drink, no matter how cold.

 

This sounds like a terrific pack IMO. We only just started getting Founders in small doses during COVID, so I haven't even paid attention to their mixed packs. Hopefully this one makes it to CO.

 

They used to make things like Doom, Bolt Cutter, Old Curmudgeon… they don’t do anything like that anymore. All Day IPA (and 10 varieties of it) is their big push. How lame is that…

And then the packaging… sorry but I know I’m not the only one that gets something from the packaging. There’s a difference between drinking from a plain (or terribly designed) bottle vs one that actually makes you feel like you’re drinking something special.
I think someone said the baby had to come off for legal reasons… idk if I believe that or if they just decided to abandon it, whether because they personally thought “oh my a baby on beer!?! We can’t do that!! Think of the kids!” Or perhaps some legal action did tell them to change it but I guarantee they did nothing to fight it, probly received a letter and started printing the new packaging the following day without even thinking twice about it.
And it’s NOT just the breakfast stout package, all their stuff reminds me of like how McDonalds buildings look now… just corporate, minimalism trash.

And idk how you can get excited about a 5% stout? I don’t drink for alcohol but a 5% stout isn’t going to have the body and feel of even just an 8-9% stout. Or a coffee golden ale, no thanks (I know that’s preference).

 

Wrong.
Old Curmudgeon is retired….
They’ve even given the recipe for anybody who wants to brew it themselves lol that’s how much they said “screw it”… just handed over the recipe and threw it to the graveyard.
The epitome of what Founders has become. Garbage that don’t care about anything except the bare minimum to make as much $ as possible.
https://foundersbrewing.com/latest-news/2019/curmudgeon-old-ale-homebrew-recipe/
The breakfast stout tastes nothing like it did years ago.
You know why they brew a 5% stout right? To save money. A 5% stout is a hell of a lot cheaper than an 8 or 9% stout. FYI.
And I think I’ve had one Guinness in my life, I don’t consider that a craft beer nor anything I want to drink.