Ageability: Founders Backstage Series

Yes. All are ageable. Not sure if any but Bolt Cutter will benefit from doing so.

 

Beers and bottles don't have half-lives that matter to us. You can age anything.

All except for Bolt Cutter, though, won't really benefit from it. Get those special barrel and maple flavors pronto.

 

Bolt Cutter keeps tasting better and better with time IMO. Blushing monk hangs with the best as well in terms of aging.

 

I wouldn't age any of them. Well, I also wouldn't have bought half of them, but regardless, I wouldn't age them.

 

Opened a bolt cutter not too long ago and it was better than all the crap people were giving it during release. Maybe it will get better with age. It should age for awhile without issue. Was tempted to buy a bottle this weekend that was still on shelves, but just couldnt part with the $21

 

Personally, I think Bolt Cutter will age well. Ive heard great things about better half right now as well

 

According to Founders, Bolt Cutter was intended to be a cellarable Barleywine. I think it's getting better!

Better Half is also pretty good. It's 10x better as it warms

 

Heard the same thing. Never had better Half be it fresh or aged. Just heard it ws really good now.

And yeah, I have 3 bottles of Bolt Cutter left and I am impatiently waiting for Thanksgiving to get here so I can open one

 

I had some Frangelic recently, and the unfortunate fake hazelnut syrup flavor had actually started to fade a bit. Still not particularly good, but better than it was. Not much to lose by giving it some more time.

 

My thoughts:

CBS was insane fresh and very good with a year on it. Blushing Monk is amazing at any age, period. Better Half was very good fresh, and a little better aged. Frangelic Mtn was a letdown so I didn't bother saving any to age. Bolt Cutter fresh was damn hard to finish, but good for what it was. Aged, it's light years better.

 

Better Half was fantastic at Xmas. It had started going downhill when I had another last month. That being said, the maple is pretty much gone, so if you're sitting on one, no harm in continuing to sit on it if you so desire. But it won't be as good as it was fresh. CBS wasn't great when I had it last June, so it was probably much better fresh.

Bolt Cutter is more interesting. The maple is already fading, but overall it is a better beer now that the hops are fading. I still have my doubts it will be good more than a year out, but it's still on shelves, so it shouldn't be difficult to find out for yourself.

Frangelic Mountain Brown needs to get rid of that horrid artificial flavor. If that ages out, it will be 100x better than it was fresh. I'm giving that one a year before trying it again.

In general, these beers should be tried fresh if they are maple aged, as that adds a unique element to the beer that doesn't last very long. These are certainly ageable, but will be markedly different beers than they were when fresh. I guess whether or not they are better is a matter of individual taste, but as I say all the time, why buy a limited release beer, only to age out the distinct characteristics that make it different and special?