Founders Curmudgeon’s Better Half

I was lucky enough to get my hands on two bottles of Founders Curmudgeon’s Better Half last year. This beer was the third entry in the Backstage Series, it is Curmudgeon brewed with molasses and aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels. I drank one fairly immediately and saved the other to age for a year. Here are the results:

Fresh Bottle: Bourbon upfront along with vanilla, brown sugar, wood, and maple syrup on the finish. Overall it is very malty and sweet. To me this is reminiscent of Backwoods Bastard, but not quite as good. This is a very nice sipper but just not something I am super into. Not that this is a bad beer, but Old Ales will never be my go to style. We’ll see what a year does to this one.

Aged One Year: I’m pretty sure my palate/tastes have changed but I am enjoying this much more after a year of age. Funny thing is it tastes pretty much the same, just milder and easier to enjoy. Less bourbon overall, but more on the finish now than upfront. This is creating a bit of an extra boozy finish. The vanilla, brown sugar and maple syrup have kind of blended into one complex sweet note. So yeah, this is drinking pretty well at a year and it will still develop nicely for a few more.