Review 125: Founders Bolt Cutter

Review 125

12/19/12

Founders Bolt Cutter: 15% abv

Well, it has been a while, Founders, but we’re back with another review, and hopefully it isn’t a roast. We have high expectations for Founders because they produce a high quality product consistently. This should be no different, and unfortunately for Founders, there has been a lot of hype around this particular beer. Almost to the point of it being annoying, we’ve heard about the 15th anniversary of Founders. We are happy for you, we baked you a cake, but my understanding was that there were TICKETS for buying this beer. TICKETS. This beer is not going to see the London Symphony Orchestra, here. Now it is time to see if Founders did it right for their 15th birthday, or if all the hype was just the usual marketing nonsense. 

Founders Bolt Cutter is a barleywine. As we have said in the past, barleywines are heavy in alcohol content, which gives them the “wine” designation, but they are definitely beers. Most barleywines will sit at about 10-15%, with beers rarely exceeding the 15% limit. This one certainly does its best to be up there at 15%. Don’t be afraid my friends. Just as Devil Dancer could be tamed, so too can the Bolt Cutter. Also, for your information, pouring this over any type of metal will effectively do nothing, despite the name. 

This beer, as soon as you start to smell it, will come off with big fruitiness and sweetness. Notes include honey, grapefruit, cantaloupe, strawberry, kiwi, pineapple, lime, green apple, barley, wheat, green grape, oak, and even some vegetal notes. This is a very sweet, complex nose, and gives us a huge variety of smells that you would expect and enjoy out of a barleywine style ale. 

When you taste the beer, the arrival contains a lot of the same sweet flavors that the nose has. This includes honey, vanilla, barley, molasses, toffee, lemon, melon, and some cream. It’s a relatively satisfactory arrival, which leads into a relatively satisfactory body. The body has more sweetness, with caramel, butterscotch, honey, maple, grain, barley, wheat, cream and melon. Finally, in the finish there is slightly more hoppy, piney bitterness that accompanies the sweetness. There is definitely grapefruit and pine, but there is also cream, honey, caramel, toffee, barley, orange, apple skins, and allspice. The finish is medium in length, but admittedly not totally impressive. 

This is not an unworthy beer. Let’s be honest though: if you don’t have this one by now, you’re probably never getting it. We were very excited to do this review, but paid a hefty price to try this beer. The end result is a good, enjoyable experience that will get you drunk, breaks the bank, and is virtually impossible to procure. We still think it is good quality and we will score it based off of our standard criteria. Nonetheless, if you want a good barleywine, visit some of the standards  first and see if they treat you better. 

Score: 8.75/10

Review 112: Founder's Backwoods Bastard

Review 112

12/6/12

Founder’s Backwoods Bastard: 10.2% abv

Here we go with another review. Backwoods Bastard. Might ring a bell, even if you haven’t heard of it. Why? Well, this is a bourbon-barrel aged Scotch Ale. I’ve done some small research on Scotch Ales, because there is a bit of contention about this term in our minds. If you go to Founder’s website, they will tell you Backwoods Bastard is reminiscent of a Single Malt. I will clarify to you that this is not the case. It contains malt flavors, but in this sense it reminds us of malted barley, as is a prominent flavor in TONS of beers. The problem we have with saying this is reminiscent of Single Malt Scotch is that it really won’t remind you of that, and eludes to some intrinsic quality in the beer. This beer has no real affiliation with the spirit itself, so far as we can tell. 

Anyway, now let’s talk about the beer itself. The nose has malt in it for sure, but you get the classic bourbon dominant flavors like caramel, oak, large butterscotch, toffee, vanilla, and wheat. There is even the presence of raisons, cream, plain yogurt, molasses, and slight starfruit. That makes this a fairly unique, interesting nose. The arrival reflects the smell pretty accurately, but with a little less to it. Prominent flavors include vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, and dried fruits. The body contains the same sort of flavors, with butterscotch, malt, vanilla, caramel, weak coffee, milk chocolate, creaminess, and even slight ginger. The finish contains cinnamon, malt, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, slight grapefruit and apple. 

We can comment that is a pretty bourbon-dominated beer, and if you want to understand the influence bourbon has on beer, this is a great combination of two beers to try it out, with Dirty Bastard and Backwoods Bastard. On the other hand, we think this bourbon influence was a little overdone. A unique quality that bourbon brings out in beer is a creamy butterscotch flavor, which isn’t necessarily huge in bourbon itself, but time and time again we see it in these beers to varying degrees. Overall, the complexity wasn’t earth shattering, and neither was the balance. We like Dirty Bastard better and this could use a little less of its oak time. 

Score: 8.25/10

Review 86: Founders Frangelic Mountain

Review 86

7/26/12

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown Ale: 9% abv

We’ve been trying some unique beers lately, and Founders rarely disappoints. This disappoints, but it only disappoints in the sense that there isn’t more left in the bottle. It is a winner, and it is worth getting before time runs out. Alright, since we’re running short on time tonight, we’ll make this one straight forward. I apologize to those who look forward to my witty commentary and interesting dialog. Oh well, you can live on. So here’s what we have out of this brown ale. It is a 9%er, so expect  some good flavor in this guy. 

The nose contains everything under the sun, including light coffee, caramel, strong hazelnut, buttery popcorn, chocolate, vanilla, mocha, wheat, fudge, anise, honey dew, good old fashion rice crispy treats, with earthy and creamy notes to boot. Forgive me for not being more graphic about this, but I’m just trying to get the facts out. 

The taste is fantastic, arriving with tart apple and orange flavor, with a balance of coffee and hazelnut, vanilla, caramel, mocha, molasses, orange, malt, earthiness, poppyseed muffins, nutmeg, and ginger. The finish is longer, with peanut butter, caramel, orange, coffee, molasses, malt, unripened banana, nutmeg and ginger all contributing to the finished product. We noted this beer as having a light flavor, but also being full bodied, with tartness on the arrival, and having a particularly excellent balance to it. Is it worth a try? Yes. Will you like it? You better. Next one will be better. 

Score: 9.5/10

Review 23: Founders Double Trouble

Review 23
4/19/12
Founders Double Trouble: 9.4% abv

This is an imperial IPA, also known as a double IPA. I've been told by sources that an IPA generally sits between 5-7% abv, while an imperial IPA is above that. That would explain this categorization. Generally speaking, higher alcohol content yields more flavor, and this IPA proves as no exception. On the nose, one can find pear, lemon, grapefruit, honey, pine, hops, and light floral notes. The nose is well balanced and light, having a pleasant aroma. The taste becomes bittersweet, but with much more balance of sweetness compared to a regular IPA. One can taste apple, grapefruit, honey and pineapple on the palate. The finish is long, with notes of apple, grapefruit, lemon and nutmeg. From the IPAs we've had in the past, this is a great step forward, for not too much more of a price. 
Score: 9.0/10

Review 24: Founders Dry-Hopped Pale Ale

Review 24
4/19/12
Founders Dry-Hopped Pale Ale: 5.4% abv

With a tradition of very exciting and original names, Founders brings us a dry-hopped pale ale. The nose on this beer is filled with traditional pale ale characters, having pineapple, grapefruit, honey, and cinnamon. It has to be said though that there is a slight off-putting scent in this beer, characterized as drying paint. It was not prominent and most would not notice it. The taste is hoppy, salty, with characters such as wood, malt, lemon, lime, pine and even some sprite. Although this is true, there is a watery character to the beer, which stands out like a hole in a bathroom stall. The finish is medium short, with malt, wood, and lemon-lime characters. The finish is pleasant, which makes it all the more disappointing when it's gone in two seconds. So for this one, the watery character, possibly intrinsic to the alcohol content, along with the shorter finish, really knocks this otherwise pleasant beer down. 

Score: 8.0/10

Review 22: Founders Centennial IPA

Review 22
4/17/12
Founders Centennial IPA: 7.2% abv

The first thing that stood out about this beer was the balance of the fragrances. It can be noted that in an IPA, generally a floral, bitter, grapefruit nose comes through, but the floral bit can be quite overpowering. In this one, it isn't. The nose contains lemon, pine, sugarcane, malt, pineapple and honey as well as the previously mentioned characters. It is a fresh nose and extremely well balanced and complex. As far as the taste goes, it is disappointingly less complex. The grapefruit, lemon, and honey stick through to the taste, but unfortunately the taste lacks depth. Other tasting notes include juniper berries, and cherry on the arrival. The finish is bitter as an IPA finish is, with primarily lemon and grapefruit concluding. 

Not bad, not my favorite. The complexity in the nose leads to a higher expectation of flavors in the taste, in my opinion. 

Score: 8.0/10

Review 18: Founders Red's Rye

Review 18: 
4/14/12
Founders Red's Rye P.A.: 6.6% abv

This is a pale ale brewed with rye. Needless to say, I was excited for this ale because rye whiskey is a fantastic deviation from bourbon. Unfortunately, this predisposition towards the taste left me slightly disappointed. On the nose, one gathers floral notes, apples, cherry, honey, pear, and ginger. The taste is hoppy, floral, earthy, with a mellow bite and slight ginger and the common grapefruit taste that's associated with pale ales. The finish is spicy and floral, with hops. The finish is medium long. This is not the most complex beer, not did it have the rye character I was looking for. It is still a good beer, but not my favorite as far as complexity goes. 

Score: 7.5/10

Review 15: Founders All Day IPA

Review 15
4/9/12
Founders All Day IPA Session Ale: 4.7% abv

This is an India Pale Ale, and there is a car on the bottle. I don't know why. Anyway. This has a nice floral nose, with peaches, apple, lemon, grapefruit, and slight ginger. The nose is extremely pleasant and easy. In the taste, there is hops, grapefruit, citrus, nutmeg and some herbal, floral notes. The finish is medium, but not complex, with a contrasting sweet and bitter combination, and with lemon jumping out. This is a nice beer that is easy to drink. Unfortunately, the complexity of this beer doesn't measure up to the Mad Hatter IPA from New Holland. 

Score: 8/10

Review 16: Founders Cerise Cherry Fermented Ale

Review 16
4/9/12
Founders Cerise Cherry Fermented Ale: 6.5% abv

Okay. To summarize this beer, it's not beer. I have a feeling any girl could drink this like a Mike's, so take that for what it is. There's not a lot to say. The nose contains vanilla, citrus, slight slight cinnamon, and ironically not much cherry. The nose is light and sweet. The taste....the taste....sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. It is cherry, vanilla, citrus, and lemon in taste. The finish is mainly lemon, and sweet. It is medium-short and more sweet. To sum it up, this beer isn't complex but it is easy to drink. I can't give this a good rating, because I rate beers for complexity. If you would like a beer for ease of drink, this is a 10 out of 10. But for what it is, it isn't fantastic.

Score: 6.5/10