Ölbeat 340: Founders PC Pils

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: India Style Lager
Abv: 5,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is golden yellow with a vanishing two-finger-thick white head. Aroma has grapefruit, lemon and malts. Taste begins with fresh bittersour citrus bite. Bitter grapefruit takes over with sweetish malty side tones. Towards the end salty bitter malts, sour lemon and tartish peel get on top. Aftertaste has dryish malts and lasting fresh bittersour grapefruit.

Very fresh and drinkable hopped Pils. Certainly elements of fruity IPA are clearly more present than malty Pilsner qualities. But there are malts sticking out from the background. I could drink this as my castaway beer. Excellent stuff.

Ölbeat

Summer. Sunshine. Lying relaxed on my hammock. With a beer. Put some reggae on.

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Jamming (YouTube)

From the 1977 album Exodus, the song was written by Bob Marley.

Ölbeat 322 (BC17 #9): Founders Barrel-Aged Series: Doom

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 12,4 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is bright golden orange with a medium-sized natural white head. Aroma has mango, orange and bourbon vanilla. Taste begins with sweet bourbon bite. Bitter pine and oaky vanillaish booze take over with sweet fruity side tones. Towards the end strongly piny and boozy bitterness comes through with grapefruit and peel lurking in the background. Aftertaste has heavily bitter grapefruit, dry resinous oak and boozy warmth.

Damn powerful and rich barrel-aged Triple IPA. The start is bourbon-dominated with sweet vanilla, oak and booze. In the middle pine and grapefruit - the hops - step in front. The end combines oak of the barrel and piny citrus of the brew beautifully. An unusual marriage between strong IPA and bourbon barrel brings out the beauty from both sides.

Ölbeat

"You take a mortal man / And put him in control / Watch him become a god / Watch people's heads a'roll." That's it. That's the doom.

Megadeth: Symphony Of Destruction (YouTube)

From the 1992 album Countdown to Extinction, the song was written by Dave Mustaine.

Ölbeat 313: Founders Frootwood

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Fruit Beer
Abv: 8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is light red with a small white head. Aroma has sweet bourbon, vanilla and berry juice. Taste begins with sweet vanilla-spiced cherries. Bourbon-soaked cherries and vanilla caramel malts take over. Towards the end slightly sour, sweet syrupy cherries get the upper hand of the bourbon. Aftertaste has sweet cherry juice and mildly bitter boozy kick.

Sweet, nicely barrel-aged cherry beer. Expected just cherry juice, got gently boozy and softly spicy cherry-flavoured brew. Fruity and strong. Very nice.

Ölbeat

Someone can see the connection between bourbon whiskey and Tennessee, but the fact is that the song just started to play as an earworm while sipping the beer. So there were no options.

Arrested Development: Tennessee (YouTube)

From the 1992 album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..., the song was written by Thomas Todd and Aerle Taree. (The word "Tennessee" was sampled from Prince's Alphabet Street, 1988, and the unauthorized use cost the samplers 100.000 $.)

Ölbeat 266: Founders Azacca IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 7 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark orange with a large natural white head. Aroma has mild citrus, tropical fruits and caramel. Taste begins with slightly piny citrus. Piny grapefruit bitterness dominates over dry malty flavour. Towards the end sweet orange and spiky menthol flavours make an appearance. Aftertaste has piny dryness and herbal citrus bitterness.

Shortly put a decent India Pale Ale. The fruits of the aroma are out-shadowed by pine. The herbal flavours in the end aren't bad but I prefer stronger citrus in this style. Anyway, a small disappointment from the brewery but an alright brew.

Ölbeat

The brew is named after a hop variety used in brewing, and the hop Azacca is named after the loa i.e. the spirit of agriculture in Haitian voodoo. Some sources claim he's the spirit of thunder but all the same - it's still about the ancient Caribbean belief. 

Godsmack: Voodoo (YouTube)

From the 1999 album Godsmack, the song was written by Sully Erna and Robbie Merrill.

Ölmönger's Lair: Beer Meets Whisky - Part 3, Founders Dirty Bastard

After some extra waiting, we've reached the last part of the trilogy. First part was good, second part showed some surprises, so this should be the disappointing unnecessary sequel. But in the end the truth can be that "your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision!" So, let's see and have a taste.

Wasting 0,5 cl of each fine dram...

Third beer to be disgraced by my obsession to mess things up is Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale. It's Wee Heavy. Well, yes, "way heavy", but as a beer style a strong pale ale from Scotland. Sweet caramel malty, moderately bitter and slowly spicy-growing great brew.

Since there already is a bourbon barrel-ged version - also excellent Backwoods Bastard - available, I didn't mix the beer with Maker's Mark. Instead I picked two whiskies from the second part, Auchentoschan Heartwood and Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban, first one being sherry and bourbon barrel-aged Lowlander and the latter being partly port barrel-aged Speysider. For the part of the wild card or the joker I picked Ardbeg Corryvreckan, heavily peated cask strength Islay dram.

...but here everything seems to be fine...

The test

Since the arrangements and the amounts of whisky per dose were exactly the same as in the second test, we'll get straight to the notorious table:

			Dirty Bastard
Whisky	Whisky volume (l)	Whisky abv (/1)	Beer volume (l)	Beer abv (/1)	Total abv (%)
Ardbeg Corryvreckan	0,005	0,57	0,12	0,085	10,47
Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban	0,005	0,46	0,12	0,085	10,02
Auchentoschan Heartwood	0,005	0,43	0,12	0,085	9,90

Then comes counting the costs. You get a bottle of Dirty Bastard from Alko with 3,99 euros. Price of 0.5 cl of whisky is 27 cents (Heartwood), 50 cents (Quinta Ruban) and 71 cents (Corryvreckan). Mixing one bottle of DB with 1,5 cl of one of these whiskies costs 4,70 - 6,22 euros. Is it a lot or not? The answer is once again a question: who gives a f**k?

...until the bastard did it again!

Tasting notes

Every mix is mahogany brown in colour and because of the slow pouring, there's only a thin tan lace.

Dirty Bastard vs. Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Aroma has peaty smoke, tar, roasted caramel and stingy alcohol. Taste begins with smoked sweet malts. Heavy, peated smoke and sweet burned caramel take over with bitter salty liquorice. Towards the end sweet tar-caramel, fruity bitterness and spicy alcohol step in front. Aftertaste has tar-flavoured liquorice, smoky-piny bitterness and oaky dryness.

In this case Corryvreckan comes out first with peaty smoke, tar and liquorice. But the peated Islay whisky seems to fit Scotch ale's caramel and bitter flavour much better than a roasted porter or stout. The result reminds recently tasted Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew, which was a superb beer. Excellent and delicious.

Dirty Bastard vs. Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban

Aroma has sweet berries/grapes, caramel malts and spicy booze. Taste starts with sweet fruity caramel. Sweet caramel malts and fruit-berry juice take over with spicy-fruity alcohol. Towards the end fruity liquor, spicy caramel and sweetish bitterness get on top. Aftertaste has a boozy kick, spicy-fruity bitterness and lasting oaky-peppery dryness.

Quinta Ruban hits the goal again. Fruity-spicy whisky supports the brew's malty sweet character beautifully. In the end oak comes out by giving the aftertaste a lasting spicy-dry ending. Superbly delicious.

Dirty Bastard vs. Auchentoshan Heartwood

Aroma has caramel malts, sweet dark fruits and alcohol. Taste starts with spicy fruity malts. Caramel malts and sweet dark fruits take over with spicy bitter alcohol kick. Towards the end oaky-spicy whisky comes out with fruity bitterness and malty sweetness staying by its side. Aftertaste has oaky-fruity bitterness, piny-malty dryness and spicy alcohol warmth.

Heartwood's oak, fruits and spices fit to the fruit, caramel and bitter flavours of the beer beautifully. Especially oak rounds the sweet elements of the brew very pleasantly. This is an excellent treat. 

Conclusions

The result is a pleasant surprise: every Scotch single malt whisky seems to work beautifully with Wee Heavy. Auchentoschan Heartwood's spicy and oaky fruits match with the fruity caramel brew in a delicious way. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban supports the brew's sweetness and gives it a tasty lasting oaky finale. I have to share the silver medal with these two. The gold goes to the union of Ardbeg Corryvreckan and Dirty Bastard, since in that combo the beer is the one that rounds the peat spike of the whiskey with the deep malty character - the result is a very unique but exquisite flavour.

Ölbeat

For the last and probably the best part of the trilogy I pick my personal favourite version of this title theme.

Thin Lizzy: Whiskey in the Jar (YouTube)

Released originally as a single in 1972, the song is a traditional Irish song.

Ölbeat 217: Founders Backwoods Bastard

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company 
Country: United States
Style: Scotch Ale
Abv: 11,6 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark mahogany brown with a small tan head. Aroma has bourbon oak, vanilla and sweet fruity malts. Taste starts with sweet spiced boozy bite. Vanilla-oak-flavoured caramel malts with fruity bitterness take over. Towards the end fruity sweet caramel malts and biting bourbon-boozy bitterness get on top with raisins and dried fruits. Aftertaste has oaky-malty dryness and lasting gentle burn of bourbon.

As Dirty Bastard is a superb Scotch Ale, this is stunningly beautiful barrel-aged tuned sequel to that. The bourbon vanilla and oak are present in different ways on every stage, but sweet toffeed malts and fruity bitterness are surely there too to remind me of the original. Strong and delicious, that's a fact.

Ölbeat

The forest. The home of felt-hatted grey-bearded hermits. Also the dark source of stories of mystery, horror and supernatural. The nature can sometimes be cruel, but these stories bubble out from individual's personal imagination or from culturally shared collective legends. Or do they? 

Mastodon: Colony of Birchmen (YouTube)

From the 2006 album Blood Mountain, the song was written by Mastodon.

Ölbeat 193: Founders Breakfast Stout

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 8,3 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small tan head. Aroma has sweet chocolate, coffee and alcohol. Taste begins with sharply bitter cocoa bite. Bittersweet cocoa and chocolate take over with espresso and roast flavours. Towards the end the taste stays bitter but gets sweeter chocolate tones. Aftertaste has dark chocolate and sweet bitterness.

Amazingly delicious Imperial Stout. Chocolate layers melt in the mouth, and the growing bitterness tickles the tongue. Coffee and roast have small but meaningful side roles here. The trusted brewery just seem to be incapable to fail.

Ölbeat

This imp surely is no Wake Up Little Susie brew. It takes a heavier grip to reach the weight of this "Good Morning" coffee. Some bells, some violence, some guitar and drums. 

Metallica: For Whom the Bell Tolls (YouTube)

From the 1984 album Ride the Lightning, the song was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton.

Ölbeat 120: Founders reDANKulous Imperial Red IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark reddish brown with a finger-thick tan head. Aroma has alcohol, grassy piny hops and mild citrus.Taste starts with sweet alcoholic and sharp piny bitterness. Fresh piny bitterness and malty sweetness take over with alcohol warmth in the background. Dark fruits, grapefruit and sweet caramel linger in near the finish. Aftertaste has heavy piny dryness and alcohol bitterness, and it lasts long.

Strong and heavy. Piny bitter-dryness and boozy backbone dominate in the flavour. Malty sweetness shows up. Fruits are in the background. The brew leaves the mouth dry. Massive hop-bomb. Mostly I love the powerful presence but almost completely missing fruit flavours leaves a part of me cold.

Ölbeat

The beer was pure power and fist in the face with no small talk. Can we find a song with similar attitude? N.. Hey, wait. This legendary heavy/thrash metal band from Texas might have a word here.

Pantera: Walk (YouTube)

From the 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power, the song was written by Pantera.

Ölbeat 119: Founders KBS

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 11,2 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is thick black with a tiny beige crown. Aroma has milk chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Taste begins with delicious sweet coffee with chocolate notes. After the start roasted coffee amd chocolate dominate with sweet bitterness. Near the finish oaky bourbon vanilla and steady hoppy bitterness step in. Aftertaste has coffee, cocoa, vanilla, roasted bitterness and a bite of alcohol for sweetly lo-o-ong.

Magnificent and wonderful experience. Brewing an Imperial Stout with coffee and chocolate and aging the result in bourbon barrels turns the crime from beautiful to perfect. Soft and gentle but still strong and rebellious. When one makes a beer like this, how can you beat it without divine tricks?

Ölbeat

Since the brew isn't roughly heavy and toughly black, it's rather a good rock song than a metal track in this case. Because the beer made its way to my personal favourites, it's time for a personal favourite. The difference between a fine bourbon and a well-made Irish whisky isn't so big, is it?

Thin Lizzy: Jailbreak (YouTube)

From the 1976 album Jailbreak, the song was written by Phil Lynott.

Ölbeat 118: Founders Devil Dancer Triple IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 12 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is bright dark copper orange with a small whiteish head. Aroma has mango, sweet berries and flowery hops. Taste begins with dry pine and burning heavy bitterness. Piny bitterness with grapefruit and some sweet orange flavours take over. Towards the end the orange with a strong alcohol burn comes clearly through. Aftertaste has long-lasting extra dryness and heavily bitterness with alcohol-powered fruitiness.

Insanely intensive and aggressively alcoholic hop-bomb. Bitterness and dryness are the strongest forces with citrus fruits coming through in their full force near the finish. Delicious Triple IPA but not for the faint-hearted.

Ölbeat

There's an obvious American rock song for this American brew. It's got nothing to do with dancers but the devil is clearly here. The loud intro with car horns pretty well describes the first impression of the beer's taste.

Van Halen: Runnin' with the Devil (YouTube)

From the 1978 album Van Halen, the song was written by Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen.

Ölbeat 117: Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 9 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is coffee brown with a finger-thick beige head. Aroma has bready malts, coffee beans and a mild scent of chocolate. Taste begins with gently bitter hops and malty coffee. Semi-sweet chocolate malts and roasted espresso take over, coffee taking the upper hand with cocoa flavour. Towards the end some hoppy bitterness shows up. Aftertaste has bitter malty dark chocolate and alcohol warmth.

Delicious mix of American strong ale and Indonesian coffee with distinctive chocolate flavour. Coffee seems to be an excellent companion to brown ale as well as stout and porter. Founders has already received a fine quality stamp from me before - this is another success in the line.

Ölbeat

Don't know if there's a lot of mist in the mountains of Sumatra. The highest peak of the Barisan range in Sumatra is 3.800 metres high, so probably there is during the warm and humid season. Enough with the babbling - let's match the unique brew with a unique song.

Led Zeppelin: Misty Mountain Hop (YouTube)

From the 1971 album Led Zeppelin IV, the song was written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Ölbeat 116: Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Scotch Ale
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark nut brown with a nice medium-sized tan head. Aroma has syrupy, sweet malty and spicy scent with some caramel and raisins. Taste begins with smoothly bitter and sweet malty bite. Syrupy caramel malts with sweet bitterness and alcohol flavour take over, and the flavours grow enjoyably slowly. Some spicy and peppery flavours are in the background. Towards the end bitter caramel hops strike back. Aftertaste has sweet bitterness and alcoholic dryness.

Scotch Ale - or Wee Heavy as they also call it - beautiful style. Rich and tasty as hell. Caramel malts make the taste smooth and silky but bittersweet hops add some complexity and spice to the experience. Once again great work from the quality brewery.

Ölbeat

The brew is clearly attached to "Ölmönger brand" (What the fuck is that?) by its name at least. Hence it's easy to find a matching song for this rich beer. And simultaneuosly I confess something that doesn't surprise anyone.

Ugly Kid Joe: Everything About You (YouTube)

From the 1991 EP As Ugly as They Wanna Be and the 1992 album America's Least Wanted, the song was written by Whitfield Crane and Klaus Eichstadt.

Ölbeat 076: Founders Imperial Stout

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 10,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick beige-brown head. Aroma has espresso, dark chocolate and rum. Taste begins with rich dark-roasted coffee with a little sugar and a biting hoppy twist. Roasted malts and bitter dark chocolate hop in and get mixed with the coffee. Towards the end sweet bitter hops and nice slice of rum join the orchestra of flavours. Aftertaste has sweet roasty bitterness and warming alcohol.

Congratulations to me - found the bottled perfection: superb mix of fine black coffee, delicious dark chocolate, bittersweet hops and an alcoholic bite. The powerful flavours don't seem to soften, flatten or end at all. Great brew seems to be guaranteed, when it says Founders on the label.

 

Ölbeat

Dark-coloured top performance requires another dark-themed top performance. It's probable that this brew will be topped later, but until then there's no doubt about the choice:

Metallica: Master of Puppets (YouTube, Live 2012)

From the 1986 album Master of Puppets, the song was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton.

Ölbeat 066: Founders Porter

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Porter
Abv: 6,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is thick black with a modest beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, charcoal, liquorice and a thin slice of coffee. Taste starts with charred roasted malts. Some bitter hop and black coffee flavours join the fun. Towards the end salty chocolate and liquorice are added to the taste. Aftertaste has dry and malty charcoal roast.

This is a delicious heavy roasted, salty and gently bitter porter with decent coffee flavour. In the end the chocolate and liquorice perfect the exquisiteness. Like drinking thick liquid black velvet.

Ölbeat

But no, it can't be Black Velvet by Alannah Myles. Since the label has the description "Dark Rich Sexy" and the brew more than fulfills that, we'll easily find much darker, richer and sexier voice and song. Like this:

Seal: Love's Divine (YouTube)

From the 2003 album Seal IV, the song was written by Seal and Mark Batson.

Ölbeat 052: Founders Dark Penance

KBrewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: India Black Ale
Abv: 8,9 %
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Dim remorse? Well, remorse is always dim.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with medium but dense and slowly lowering beige head. Aroma has pineapple, peach, cherries and, when a bit warmed up, grapefruit. Taste starts with roasted tongue-biting bitterness. Then hoppy bitterness and sour grapefruit take over, followed by dry & piny flavors. Towards the end piny dryness and grapefruit dominate, and roasted malts return shortly. Aftertaste is grapefruity bitter and salty dry and lasts long.

Fruity aroma and fresh bitter hops in the first bite get the wagon moving, hoppy grapefruit in the middle adds some steam and at the end of the track there's roast, pine and grapefruit. So there are edges, and there definitely is taste: this is an Imperial IBA to mention. After some experiences with Founders brews I wonder: how hard it is to be unable to brew bad beer?

Ölbeat

Somehow it was again the name that led me in the search of the song. Since penance means absolution or remorse, it was the darkness and the heavy bitterness of the brew, that made me select this song. It puts together couple of stories where the resulting retribution can be dark and bitter:

Megadeth: Trust (YouTube)

From the 1997 album Cryptic Writings, the song was written by Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman.

Ölbeat 010: Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company 
Country: United States
Style: Old Ale
Abv: 9,8 %
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Despite the name not a curmudgeon brew...

Founders Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The brewery was founded in 1997 by Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens - two college graduates. As a winner of multiple brewery and beer awards and constantly high in worldwide brewery ranks (e.g. in 2013 Ratebeer's 3rd best brewery of all time) one expects special quality from the beer. Having tasted All Day IPA, Pale Ale and Centennial IPA before it was time to step out of the comfort zone and try something different.

What about the beer?
Colour is amber red with just noticable beige head. Aroma has a gentle scent of sweet smooth bourbon whiskey. Taste starts with molasses-driven sweetness of caramel malts. A layer of American bourbon taste with oak, vanilla and toffee - reminds me of Maker's Mark - spreads quickly into mouth. Palate and aftertaste add mild hops to the picture and in the finish there's a nice warming feeling of alcohol.

It seems that the oak-aging has rounded the sweet edge of the molasses and added the bourbon-like twist to the experience. The result is a smooth and balanced brew with complexity and unpredictability. Old ale is not an everyday beer style, and surely Curmudgeon is not - because of its rare excellence - a beer for every day.

Ölbeat

Since the beer made me feel good from the first sip, I put the feeling in front and settle for this classic:

The Doobie Brothers: Long Train Runnin' (YouTube)

From the 1973 album The Captain and Me, the song was written by the band's singer-guitarist Tom Johnston. Known for it's catchy guitar-bass line it was played by the band for three years before being recorded. The song's music was easily put together but the building the lyrics took some years: before the recording the band named it e.g. 'Osborne' and 'Parliament' and Johnston sang the lyrics that came into his head. Even the final lyrics were written quickly in a bathroom, and according to Johnston have no deeper meaning. But do you really need something deeper than: "Without love, where would you be right now?" With Curmudgeon Old Ale, I didn't.