Founders love

Meh, they're okay. FBS is good, KBS is okay, their hoppy beers are kinda crap. Had Azacca for the first time and it was malty and just not that good.

 

Just found a Russian Imperial Stout on the shelf bottled 1/1/14 (over 2 years old).

I scooped them up as soon as I saw how old it was, being a RIS. Obviously if it was an IPA I would avoid them like the plague.

What do you guys think? Im about to try one in an hour or so. Unfortunately Ive never had their RIS before so I cant compare it to fresh.

 

Finally picked up their imperial stout. Now i can see what all the noise is about.

 

Just tried one. Its the first stout outside of Good Morning which had a chocolate colored head. The aroma was also chocolate chocolate chocolate. The taste was very rich without being overly sweet. This may have been from the aging, I dont know.

It was amazing nonetheless.
I'll try and pick up a fresh bottle to compare.

 

Went to a Founders tasting at a local shop last Friday. Great stuff all around. The imperial stout is excellent. Azacca is a nice addition to their hoppy offerings. Great all around brewery.

 

Put Harvest on your list. I'd get that again just for the aroma. A co-worker has a side business making soaps, candles, and related products. The smell of Harvest has her looking into hop-scented products.
As others have mentioned, Red's Rye PA lives up to billing. Rubaeus is the only non-citrus fruit beer I remember ever liking. Really like Dirty Bastard, Project PAM, and Black Rye. Keep missing Imperial Stout, so still waiting on that one.

Other breweries? No hype that I was aware of, so maybe low/no expectation, but the following were revelatorily good, in my admittedly limited sampling:
Off Color [Chicago] (Yuzu Fierce,Apex Predator,Troublesome)
Catskill Brewery [Livingston Manor,NY] ( Freak Tractor(Model 14) ,Helles Bock, Devil's Path IPA)
Perennial Artisan Ales [St Louis] ( Hopfentea, ????(name?) )
The North [Endicott,NY] (Afrodeeziac, God Complex) - They have a reputation for "experimentation", i.e., "inconsistency", but I must have hit it just right, in several samples of both.

 

FBS, no further words are required.

 

We've had Founder's here for a while and it has vastly improved our world. It was one of our favorite tour stops as well. Their Taproom is amazing (except for the no photography policy). However, I'm very excited to hear the latest rumor that Bell's will be distributed here soon. Stone is distributed 30 miles north in Missouri, would love to see them cross the border too.

 

Well, I'm not going to jump into the "Founders has consistency issues" debate, but anyone who is proclaiming that they are getting inconsistency between two bottles out of the same 4-pk is probably not worth listening to on that subject. That's not really how beer works.

FWIW, fresh there are a lot more roasty and charred flavor characteristics, which I love. In fact, I personally prefer it fresh, but it's fantastic fresh or aged, to be honest.

 

Founder's lineup is pretty solid across the board. That's not an easy task.

 

Their Centennial IPA is one of my favorites, and just as good as Bell's Two Hearted.

 

They just got Project PAM here in Alameda at Craft. I was shocked as I too had been looking out for it. Picked up a bottle but have yet to sample.

As for the rest of Founders, I've been yet to be wowed. I'm very glad they're here though. It's been fun to try. The PA/IPAs didn't stack up all that great against local offerings. The FBS was too acrid for me. I do have another bottle of it as well as the IS and BB cellaring now to see if they mellow out.

 

What is the average price for a 4 pack of Backwoods Bastard? I just saw it at my local liquor store for $18.

 

For me there are about 5 widely distributed breweries that can do no wrong and Founders is right in there.

 

It's either $14.99 or 15.99/4pk here, for some reference.

 

I see. That liquor store has a bunch of 4 packs of Backwoods Bastard, maybe they don't sell much of because of the price? I think I'll wait a little bit and see if they lower the price.

EDIT: Thanks, btw.

 

I can understand your POV. $18/4pk is not cheap. My personal opinion is that if you've never had it, it's worth it as it's a world-class brew.

 

Nope, never had it before. I'm actually just beginning to try Founders beers. You know, I might buy 4 pack, next time I go to that store.

 

I'm appreciative that Founders landed in TX a year or so ago, but the brewery that I'm most thankful about is Odell. Their entire lineup is on fuckin point.

 

Love me some founders.

Hit the brewery yesterday. Had some CBS (which was brought to me at my table by a random waiter, not mine who kind of scoffed at me, while I waited in line and wanted to make sure I got some...) as I shared a table with another random founders employee as there were no open tables.

Always happy to drink their normal offerings and even happier to try some special items from the brewery.