This is an Anti-Establishment Ale which is right up my alley. "Every batch diabolically brewed to decimate ordinary-average-run-of-the-mill tasting beer."
Maple bourbon barrels... I drool just looking at the label. I had one of these back in April of 2010 and I've been eying one in the back of my fridge ever since. It's easy to get excited about beer when it comes from Founders and I'm curious about how this aged. My valentine this year is a beer and I'm okay with that.
This pours a beautiful dried apricot-rusted yellow with a brilliant, yet hazy orange glow, with flakes of yeast, potential calcium flakes, and proteins swirling around lightly like a snow globe. The head is tight and protein dense, eggshell white and slowly fades to a film coating the top of the surface. This beer looks stunning.
There is a very nice caramel sweetness that tingles the nose at first, followed by that oak, bourbon and earthy maple notes just perfuming through the wheat bite. Wheat sometimes has a way of being grainy, bready and fruity. Banana break and maple glazed walnuts are a predominate aroma in this beer that weaves between the boozy 12% alcohol. I'd be lying if I said you couldn't sense the alcohol from a few whiffs of this brew. Granted, bourbon barrels have a way of adding to this boozy, dried apricots and berry warmth. I'd like to stress that this is a warm dried berry warmth not a cherry hotness. Like any good Canadian, I love maple syrup and this just has such a gentle, earthy maple character. It's woody and adding to a little hop balance to all of the wheat and malts. The barrel gives it a little oxidized aroma that simply gives this beer depth amongst the easily depicted aromas.
The flavours of this beer seem to start on the back of the palate with a lovely bitterness and sparged wheat astringency. This light tingle slowly sinks into the pocket of the tongue with apricots, peaches stewed in caramel. The caramel turns to an oaky, woody dry-sweet and watery glaze on the tip of the tongue. For the most part those tingles of maple in the nose are lost in the depth of this brew. The banana is lost but that lovely wheat and nut bread just glazes over the tongue and pinches the cheeks with the splintered-barrel flavours. The bourbon is the over all lingering expression of this beer that finishes very clean and slightly sweet. The finish is not much different than a nice bourbon that just lays nicely on the back of the tongue.
The carbonation is very moderate and the body is fairly thin considering this looks like a chunky beer and at 12% it's surprising me. Trust me that it's full bodied, but I love the bourbon characteristics that it holds in the mouthfeel. Maybe "full" is wrong to describe this, as it reminds me more of a fluffy marshmallow that is simply dissolving in my mouth. Bourbon has a sweetness that dominates the back pocket of the tongue, there are enough hops to leave that bitter coating on the very back of the tongue, and the roof of my mouth and tip of my tongue just splash in the light watery residues left over. This is something you just have to sense in the mouth all the flavours are spiked by where the sugars, wood, or lack of sugars tend to remain after every mouthful.
This is a great style of beer that isn't over done not to mention the creativity of the brewers to have it aged in maple bourbon barrels is this reason why Founders rule. I drink this and I think of an outstanding weissenbier blended with a dunkel on steroids with a marshmallow mouthfeel and sweetness that just tickles the palate.
As for food pairings, this beer needs an arugula salad with a cilantro & yogurt salad dressing topped with pinenuts, walnuts and golden raisins. The arugula has such a grassy, earthy flavour that would just be perfect for the oaky flavours that linger from the beer. Cilantro also has that green flavour that will cut the beer flavour yet compliment the light hopping of the beer and the bourbon finish. I think salad due to the residual water left in the front of the mouth. This pairing could happen with either beer or salad coming first. You can break this flavour orgy in the mouth with an artisanal wheat bread made with grated beets. A nice dry bread and sweet soil beets with a light olive oil dip will simply cleanse the palate without disrupting the flavours that can blend. Keep in mind, wheat is dry and astringent. This beer has a slight astringency from the wheat and a nice bread with a little oil can go with almost any beer of this depth. (I'd also recommend this with salmon sashimi and a little wasabi.)
For those craving a little more sugar, I wouldn't judge you for popping a big fluffy-white-anti-establisment marshmallow in your gob while drinking this sucker.
Dig in. Indulge. Enjoy.
Maple bourbon barrels... I drool just looking at the label. I had one of these back in April of 2010 and I've been eying one in the back of my fridge ever since. It's easy to get excited about beer when it comes from Founders and I'm curious about how this aged. My valentine this year is a beer and I'm okay with that.
This pours a beautiful dried apricot-rusted yellow with a brilliant, yet hazy orange glow, with flakes of yeast, potential calcium flakes, and proteins swirling around lightly like a snow globe. The head is tight and protein dense, eggshell white and slowly fades to a film coating the top of the surface. This beer looks stunning.
There is a very nice caramel sweetness that tingles the nose at first, followed by that oak, bourbon and earthy maple notes just perfuming through the wheat bite. Wheat sometimes has a way of being grainy, bready and fruity. Banana break and maple glazed walnuts are a predominate aroma in this beer that weaves between the boozy 12% alcohol. I'd be lying if I said you couldn't sense the alcohol from a few whiffs of this brew. Granted, bourbon barrels have a way of adding to this boozy, dried apricots and berry warmth. I'd like to stress that this is a warm dried berry warmth not a cherry hotness. Like any good Canadian, I love maple syrup and this just has such a gentle, earthy maple character. It's woody and adding to a little hop balance to all of the wheat and malts. The barrel gives it a little oxidized aroma that simply gives this beer depth amongst the easily depicted aromas.
The flavours of this beer seem to start on the back of the palate with a lovely bitterness and sparged wheat astringency. This light tingle slowly sinks into the pocket of the tongue with apricots, peaches stewed in caramel. The caramel turns to an oaky, woody dry-sweet and watery glaze on the tip of the tongue. For the most part those tingles of maple in the nose are lost in the depth of this brew. The banana is lost but that lovely wheat and nut bread just glazes over the tongue and pinches the cheeks with the splintered-barrel flavours. The bourbon is the over all lingering expression of this beer that finishes very clean and slightly sweet. The finish is not much different than a nice bourbon that just lays nicely on the back of the tongue.
The carbonation is very moderate and the body is fairly thin considering this looks like a chunky beer and at 12% it's surprising me. Trust me that it's full bodied, but I love the bourbon characteristics that it holds in the mouthfeel. Maybe "full" is wrong to describe this, as it reminds me more of a fluffy marshmallow that is simply dissolving in my mouth. Bourbon has a sweetness that dominates the back pocket of the tongue, there are enough hops to leave that bitter coating on the very back of the tongue, and the roof of my mouth and tip of my tongue just splash in the light watery residues left over. This is something you just have to sense in the mouth all the flavours are spiked by where the sugars, wood, or lack of sugars tend to remain after every mouthful.
This is a great style of beer that isn't over done not to mention the creativity of the brewers to have it aged in maple bourbon barrels is this reason why Founders rule. I drink this and I think of an outstanding weissenbier blended with a dunkel on steroids with a marshmallow mouthfeel and sweetness that just tickles the palate.
As for food pairings, this beer needs an arugula salad with a cilantro & yogurt salad dressing topped with pinenuts, walnuts and golden raisins. The arugula has such a grassy, earthy flavour that would just be perfect for the oaky flavours that linger from the beer. Cilantro also has that green flavour that will cut the beer flavour yet compliment the light hopping of the beer and the bourbon finish. I think salad due to the residual water left in the front of the mouth. This pairing could happen with either beer or salad coming first. You can break this flavour orgy in the mouth with an artisanal wheat bread made with grated beets. A nice dry bread and sweet soil beets with a light olive oil dip will simply cleanse the palate without disrupting the flavours that can blend. Keep in mind, wheat is dry and astringent. This beer has a slight astringency from the wheat and a nice bread with a little oil can go with almost any beer of this depth. (I'd also recommend this with salmon sashimi and a little wasabi.)
For those craving a little more sugar, I wouldn't judge you for popping a big fluffy-white-anti-establisment marshmallow in your gob while drinking this sucker.
Dig in. Indulge. Enjoy.
Ummm...wow.
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