THS 33: Founders Brewing Co.

Cask & Vine’s What’s On Tap: Kyle Desimone from Founders Brewing Co.!

Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers both had steady jobs when they decided to chase their dreams and open a brewery–which meant writing a business plan, quitting their jobs, and taking out giant loans. They figured if you’re going to live life, you ought to live it hard, without regrets.

After some initial challenges, due to making well balanced but unremarkable beers, we were on the verge of bankruptcy. It was at this point that the original Founders team decided to brew the kind of beer that got them excited about brewing in the first place: complex, in-your-face ales, with huge aromatics, bigger body, and tons of flavor.

The Founders Family, a group of passionate beer enthusiasts, has grown around this simple philosophy: “We don’t brew beer for the masses. Instead, our beers are crafted for a chosen few, a small cadre of renegades and rebels who enjoy a beer that pushes the limits of what is commonly accepted as taste. In short, we make beer for people like us.”

Founders Brewing: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

Bert’s Better Beers’ Draft Pick of the Week: We Drank A LOT of FOUNDERS!

1. Double Trouble IPA

An imperial IPA that was brewed to turn your world upside down. Hops will get you coming and going. Pungent aromatics up front pair with a malt-balanced backbone and a smooth, bitter finish.

• ABV: 9.4%
• IBUs: 86
• Availability: Jul – Sep

 2. Rubaeus

Not another boring summer wheat beer or lemonade shandy—Rübæus is Founders’ way to celebrate the season’s warmest months. Optimizing the flavor of fresh raspberries added at multiple stages during fermentation, this stunning berry red masterpiece is the perfect balance of sweet and tart. No question about it, with a hefty malt bill and 5.7% ABV, this beer is 100% Founders.

• ABV: 5.7%
• IBUs: 15
• Availability: May – Aug

3. Dirt Bastard

So good it’s almost wrong. Dark ruby in color and brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Complex in finish, with hints of smoke and peat, paired with a malty richness and a right hook of hop power to give it the bad attitude that a beer named Dirty Bastard has to live up to. Ain’t for the wee lads.

• ABV: 8.5%
• IBUs: 50
• Availability: Year-round

4. KBS

What we’ve got here is an imperial stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year to make sure wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish. Makes your taste buds squeal with delight.

• ABV: 11.2%
• IBUs: 70
• Availability: April

5. All Day IPA

The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeps your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains and hops. Balanced for optimal aromatics and a clean finish. The perfect reward for an honest day’s work and the ultimate companion to celebrate life’s simple pleasures.

• ABV: 4.7%
• IBUs: 42
• Availability: Year-round

6. Centennial IPA

Get ready to bask in the glory of the frothy head’s floral bouquet. Relish the citrus accents from the abundance of dry hopping. This one’s sweet, yet balanced. Malty undertones shake hands with the hop character for a finish that never turns too bitter.

• ABV: 7.2%
• IBUs: 65
• Availability: Year-round

Listen to hear our reviews!

Kettle to Keg’s In the Kettle:

1. Setting up NITRO

 

Ain’t We Got Style:

9E Strong Scotch Ale

Ale Communications:

Archaeological Parameters for the Beginnings of Beer

By Thomas W. Kavanagh, Ph.D.
Republished from BrewingTechniques’ September/October 1994.

Although of great interest to the brewing community, the question of the origin of beer and brewing has received sporadic attention from academic investigators. Home brewer, anthropologist, and museum curator Thomas Kavanagh outlines and evaluates modern archeological research on beer’s origins and proposes specific areas for further study.

In the absence of clear archaeological evidence, it is difficult to state with any certainty when or where brewing began, let alone why or how. This article summarizes the two primary articles in the anthropological and related literature on the possible origins of beer, discusses some of the archaeological and zymurlogical parameters within which beer may have originated, and suggests some areas for further investigation. READ MORE

Anheuser- Busch InBev in talks to acquire SABMiller

Companies merge and consolidate on a regular basis, but what could take place in the brewing world is unprecedented and would have been unthinkable in decades past, according to news reports from Fortune published on September 15, 2014.

Official news reports say that brewing behemoth Anheuser- Busch InBev is negotiating a financing arrangement to purchase SABMiller, the world’s second largest brewer. The total value of the deal would be around $122 billion according to official sources and would bring together dozens of popular brand names- brands that were once owned by bitter rivals who would have scorned even the mere thought of a single entity owning all of these products.

SABMiller, maker of Miller, Coors, Leinenkugel, and other brands just recently lost a bid of its own to purchase Heineken. The deal was rejected by a Heineken management team that felt the company would be better off if it remained independent. READ MORE

From Coffee To Chicory To Beer, ‘Bitter’ Flavor Can Be Addictive

Food writer Jennifer McLagan has spent the past few years trying to win home cooks over to the ingredients they fear. She’s written a cookbook on fat, one on bones and one titled Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal.

Now, at a time when “arugula eater” is nearly a political slur, McLagan is back with a book of quirky history and culture, sprinkled with recipes aimed at rehabilitating the image of bitter greens. And it’s not just greens — McLagan’s recipes highlight everything from grapefruit to beer and chocolate.

The book is called Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes. And McLagan makes the case for why bitter is the most interesting flavor.

“We’re all programmed genetically to react negatively to bitter,” McLagan tells Morning Edition host Audie Cornish. “Bitterness can indicate a poison or something that’s toxic.” (This is the prevailing sentiment, although one recent study raises questions about that assumption.) READ MORE

 

Jukebox: “Hush Master” from Schism by Otto Kinzel

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