Review #19 - Founders Devil Dancer

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

July 28, 2011

I have to admit, I was a little worried about this one.  During the couple days I scrambled to track down the Dogfish 120 I took my eye off the Devil Dancer ball.  I figured Founders would send a little more Devil Dancer out than Dogfish did the 120 Minute.  It turned out that I was correct but not by much. 

The few places that did carry Founders Devil Dancer sold out quickly, whether it was on tap or by the 4-pack.  I just kept missing it, but I finally called Bad Apple on Lincoln Ave. here in Chicago and while they didn’t have it on tap yet, they said that they were expecting it sometime soon.  The catch was that they didn’t know exactly when it would arrive, when they would tap it or exactly how much they would get.  The only thing they did know was that it would go quickly and I’d have to be there very soon after the tapping.

Of course, while I would love to do nothing but hang out at the Bad Apple and eat their absolutely delicious, gourmet burgers and drink their dozens upon dozens of tasty Midwestern beers, sadly I do not have the time or funds to do so.  So the young lady that informed me over the phone of their Devil Dancer situation also informed me about a website that I am embarrassed to say I did not already know about – BeerMenus.com.

The link above takes you straight to the Chicago site, but beer fans in New York City, Philadelphia, L.A. and San Francisco can also figure out the most up-to-date tap and bottle selections throughout their respective cities.  This is absolutely not an ad, just a heads up to other beer geeks who have somehow managed to keep their heads in the sand as long as I have.  The point I’m making is that it allowed me to track down Founders Devil Dancer and led me to a great liquor store here on the North Side of Chicago. 

After checking beermenus.com for a few days, and finding that I had just missed snagging myself a 4-pack, pint or even just a bottle or two, I finally came across Fischman’s Liquors, a small, but very well stocked liquor store with an outstanding craft selection.  To make the place even better it is attached to a bar, which we’ll get to that in a moment.

First, Carlos, the guy who was in charge the day I called Fischman’s, was kind enough to hold the last 4-pack for me.  So my brother-in-law and I headed down for a midday beer run.  When we arrived, Carlos presented the 4-pack and told us to look around.  I ended up grabbing a bomber of Ruination, a bomber of Great Divide’s Chocolate Yeti Stout and a couple Two Brothers Hop Juice Bombers.  After chatting with Carlos at the register for a bit, he tossed in a big Belgian bottle as well - a Fantastic guy running a fantastic store. 

Of course, we had to peek into the bar next door to see what was on tap and as I ran out to put more money in the meter my brother-in-law made the call to order us two Firestone Double Jack IPAs…20oz. pours for…get this…five dollars.

Yeah, so it was a fun beer day.  Let’s get to the stats on the Devil Dancer now.

ABV: 12%

IBUs: 112

Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Style: American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.01

My Beer Advocate Rating: A/4.33

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 949/17th

Brewery Description: Founders Devil Dancer   

Bottled On: June 24, 2011

APPEARANCE:  (4 out of 5) Golden copper in color, very typical DIPA look to it, but with a stronger head than expected.  Fluffy and white, the head did vanish rather quickly, but the aroma did not slip away with it.  As I type this and watch the head dissipate I can still smell it.

SMELL:  (5 out of 5)The Devil Dancer possesses a big, strong nose.  The dominant aroma is a resiny pine, but not too far behind that is a very nice toffee aroma with just a hint of toasted malt to it.  The true test of whether or not I truly love the smell of a beer is how long it takes me to actually take a sip after the bottle has been opened.  Well, I have yet to take a sip at this point and my nose has been in the glass five or six times.

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) After the last review, the Dogfish Head 120 Minute, I thought I was tasting a truly unique beer.  To be fair, I was, but this now takes the cake, in my opinion as the most creative and different beer on The List.  The nose and my prejudice led me to believe that the Devil Dancer would be some version of a big, sweet, sugary, Hopslam-like DIPA.  This  beer has a bite - a big, bold, hoppy bite.  And as it turns out, Devil Dancer is an ideal name for this beer.  It tastes like the balancing sweetness is actually dancing around your tongue as the sweet, but evil balancing agent that levels out the hop flavors more than enough to help all 12 ounces of this 12%er go down, but without overpowering them at all.  It is easy to tell that this is a 100+ IBU beer from sip one.  The bitterness begins and ends the sip with the sweet, somewhat piney and anise-like flavor (am I nuts or has anyone else experienced anise here?) arriving mid-sip, but staying relegated to the sides of the palate, never quite fully overtaking the bitterness.  As the hoppy bitterness fades with the last of the sip, the toasted malt that the nose hinted at pops up and leaves a pleasant, smoky taste on the tongue.

MOUTHFEEL:  (2 out of 5) My first let down of the beer so far, but I can’t knock Founders too much for making this a tad too sticky for my taste – or feel actually.  The carbonation is actually pretty noticeable on the way down, but the resin left on the tongue and lips is not pleasant.  I think the ideal scenario here would be to pour two beers – a Stone Ruination and a Devil Dancer and trade sips…hmm…I do have both available, maybe sometime soon.

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) I have heard very mixed reviews on this beer, but I still thought I knew what to expect.  Turns out, you should never judge a beer by its label.  Dreadnaught was all over the place, a rollercoaster ride for the palate; Gordon Ale tested the limits of the style, Ruination presented bitterness in a beer as a work of art and Hopslam, Dogfish 120 and Pliny the Elder all provided the excitement of the chase of a difficult beer to obtain.  Founders Devil Dancer has all of those elements.  This was a treat and an unexpected, fun beer experience. 

DRAWBACKS:  I can see why the reviews are mixed on this one.  It is not what many people have come to expect from a DIPA.  That said, it certainly is a DIPA (or maybe a TIPA as Founders says).  It may expand to push on all four walls of the room that contains the definition of a Double IPA, but it never cracks through them.  It is just an unusual version of the style and I can see many people not appreciating that, or at the very least, not being happy to be surprised by their beer.  Also, the mouthfeel thing.  In no way is it a deal breaker for the Devil Dancer, but it seems more like a necessary evil for a beer like this.  Some may actually enjoy that aspect of it though.  Additionally, I haven’t spoken too much about food pairings here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights, primarily because most DIPAs pair with very similar foods, but this would be a tough one to do with many of my favorite DIPA pairings like blue cheese, smoked meats and sharp cheddar.  I’m not real sure any food would pair very well with it.

SOUND:  This one is obvious and became so as soon as I started writing about the taste.  The sensation of having the flavors dance around on my tongue along with the fact that this beer is called Devil Dancer immediately made a song pop into my head – “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead.  The only other beer that paired so perfectly with a certain sound was Avery’s Maharaja.  Honestly, do yourself a favor, especially if you’re a fan of the Dead, and get your hands on a bottle of Devil Dancer and crank up “Friend of the Devil”.  It may be tough to pair this beer with food, but it truly has a perfect musical pairing.

Review #12 - Founders Double Trouble

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Apr. 13, 2011

Unlike most of the recent reviews here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights, the Founders Double Trouble does not have a big, long and complicated story behind it.  Founders is solidly distributed in the Chicago area and I have managed to get my hands on a few 4-packs of Double Trouble.

So, here are the specs for the FDT:

ABV: 9.4%

IBUs: 86

Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Style: American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.17 – Excellent

My Beer Advocate Rating: A/4.4 – Outstanding

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 1,007/13th

Brewery Description: Founders Double Trouble

Bottled On: Tuesday, 12/28/2010 at 2:13 PM.

APPEARANCE:  (3.5 out of 5) I poured the Founders Double Trouble into my favorite pint glass, my Ska Brewing pint.  The cloudy, yellow straw color looked great behind the black and white logo.  A nice foamy head remained on top for several minutes after the initial pour and left behind a spotty film covering about 80% of the surface area.  Lacing initially looks like it is going to be fantastic and it isn’t bad, but a letdown given the strong ring of lace left after the first sip.  Below that top ring, the Double Trouble is yet another example of one of my Double IPAs having lacing on the left and right side of the glass, but not directly across on the opposite side.

On a separate, appearance-related note, I had previously never noticed that if you turn the bottle upside down, the face on the front goes from a straight-faced bald guy to a smiling guy with hair.  Cool optical illusion that I never saw before, gotta love Founders.

SMELL:  (4.5 out of 5) Very strong on the citrus aromas, particularly grapefruit.  It smells bitter and fantastic.  This is a powerful and impressive nose.  None of the sweetness/malt notes that are so common in some other DIPAs are present in this one.  It is a nice change of pace for the nose.

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) The nose on the Double Trouble does not lie.  It has lots of grapefruit with a very faint floral flavor lurking in the background.  There is a dash of malt to provide just enough balance to this one, but generally it reminds me of an ever so slightly toned down Stone Ruination, an absolute bitter, hop-bomb.  86 IBUs seems to be low, but when the care is taken to make sure that every last one of them is present, they go a long way. 

MOUTHFEEL:  (5 out of 5) When I reviewed Double Trouble last year, I said that the two words that describe its mouthfeel are light and flirty, and I stand by that assessment.  This beer is very well carbonated and feels like a soda going down, but it is so much tastier.  It sits light and is very dry as well.  Founders Double Trouble is a rare beer that gets a 5 in the mouthfeel department from me. 

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) Great beer.  This one really does remind me of Ruination and it also reminds me why I love bitter, hoppy beer.  This is what hops are supposed to do, and while I love the big, sweet and malty DIPAs, sometimes I just want to taste the little green flower without much else getting in the way.  This beer has been climbing up on the The List from 20^th to 13^th just since we began the project here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights and I imagine it will continue to as it becomes more sought after.  The recent KBS fever may end up bringing it some residual purchases and of course, more reviews. 

SOUND: This was a no-brainer.  The Founders Double Trouble, is powerful and aggressive on the surface, but with an undercurrent of beauty and grace.  The Roots happen to have a song called “Double Trouble” which has all the same characteristics.  Check it out while you throw one of these outstanding brews down.  Or check out the live version.

The Half Time Show: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout vs. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Posted by: Stonecipher

Apr. 9, 2011

It has been exactly two and a half months since we began our quest here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights and we have officially reached the halfway point on The List.  For those of you who are just here for the Bourbon County Stout vs. the Kentucky Breakfast Stout, our goal here is to produce an in-depth review of each of the Top 20 Most Reviewed Double/Imperial IPAs on Beer Advocate.  However, since we have reached halftime on the list so to speak, I figured we could diverge from the norm and put on a bit of a halftime show before resuming Part II of The List.  Also, if you care to skip the intro here, you can just scroll down to the reviews (as opposed to complaining that the intro is too long winded), if you appreciate a little buildup, however, read on.

I was fortunate enough to have two of the most highly acclaimed (and sought after) American Double/Imperial Stouts at the same time, so I decided to do a little head-to-head, blind taste test to see who would come out on top.

The two beers in question?  Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) and Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS).  At the moment, KBS is the 2^nd most reviewed American Imperial Stout on Beer Advocate and BCBS is the 3^rd.  Here are the specs on both:

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout:

ABV: 13%

IBUs: 60

Brewery Location: Chicago, Illinois

Style: American Double/Imperial Stout

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A/4.36 – Outstanding

My Beer Advocate Rating: A+/4.83 – World Class

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 1,524/3rd

Brewery Description: Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout

Bottled On: NA

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout:

ABV: 11.2%

IBUs: 70

Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Style: American Double/Imperial Stout

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A+/4.54 – World Class

My Beer Advocate Rating: A/4.3 – Outstanding

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 1,931/2nd

Brewery Description: Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Bottled On: NA

In order to keep this taste test as scientific and blind as possible I recruited my girlfriend to help out.  As I sat in the dining room, she poured both bottles into a couple of glasses and walked them out to me.  She also poured some for herself and did her own reviews of each, which I will be posting sometime in the near future, but she knew which beer was which whereas I did not.

Unfortunately for science, I figured it out right away.  I do not get to taste Bourbon County Stout very often, but I have had it enough, and it is enough of a memorable flavor, that I was able to pick it out almost immediately.  The KBS on the other, hand I had only tried twice before this and it was not quite as familiar.  With that said, my girlfriend refused to verify whether I was actually right about which beer was which until I had finished reviewing both. 

The point of all of this is that when I reviewed the beers, I reviewed them as Beer A and Beer B rather than BCBS and KBS.  So, in order to maintain the integrity of the initial reviews, the only words I am adding are the names of the beers in the subheadings. 

BEER A (Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout):

APPEARANCE:  (3.5 out of 5) This is a jet black beer.  No light is coming though this one at all, even when held up to the light.  As far as head goes, there is almost none, save a few wisps here and there and some bubbles popping up from the bottom of the glass.  No lacing.

SMELL:  (5 out of 5) Beer A is one of the best smelling beers I have ever had the pleasure of putting my nose to and one sniff makes me fairly certain that this is the more familiar of the two beers to me, the Bourbon County Stout.  A wide variety of smells make the scent of this one an experience in and of itself.  The nose is a warning that there is no doubt that this is a highly alcoholic beer.  The sweet smell of bourbon dominates, with oaky and vanilla notes, but a hint of coffee and chocolate round it out.  This is an exceptional smelling beer. 

TASTE:  (5 out of 5) The flavor almost precisely matches the nose, more so than any other beer I can ever recall.  A strong taste of sugary, vanilla bourbon meets the palate right off the bat before it slowly mellows and fades away.  Throughout each sip I also noticed some notes of chocolate and even some dark fruit before a kick of coffee cleaned it all away at the end leaving a mild coffee aftertaste.  The alcohol is strong and the 60 IBUs are just there for balance, only a touch of bitterness gets through all the other intense flavors.

MOUTHFEEL:  (4 out of 5) After sipping and tasting I am almost certain that Beer A is Bourbon County Stout and the mouthfeel only serves to help confirm my suspicions.  Beer A is smooth and oily with a comforting and warming feel, as if you were actually sipping bourbon.

OVERALL:  (5 out of 5) This is a ridiculously good beer.  Exceptional is a perfect world to describe it, but unique would be a nice complimentary word.  This is certainly a world-class brew that will fill any Imperial Stout fan’s heart with joy and should be a must-try for every serious beer drinker in America.

BEER B (Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout):

APPEARANCE:  (3.5 out of 5) Beer B is bubblier than Beer A, but still not much head developed other than a few wisps of foam on the top.  Like Beer A, this was stark black as well and light stood no chance against this thick brew.  Again, mirroring the first beer, there was no lacing at all.

SMELL:  (4 out of 5) This was a much less intense smelling beer than the first one.  A mellow and scaled back coffee flavor dominated it with a smoky, yet sweet bourbon flavor lurking in the background.  Notes of chocolate and vanilla were also detectable.

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) Coffee rules the palate in this one, but vanilla and bourbon are much stronger than the background flavors in Beer A.  The alcohol is toned down a bit as well.  Overall, Beer B seems to be a much more balanced beer, but not quite as exciting.  It also has a strong coffee and slightly bitter aftertaste as well.  I did not get the coffee on the end the first time I reviewed this beer, but it is just as good.

MOUTHFEEL:  (4 out of 5) Beer B is a much bubblier and more sparkling beer than most imperial stouts I have had in the past.  It is certainly still a mouthcoating and oily beer, but with a little more fizz than usual for such a thick and dark beer.

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) I am just now realizing that I already inadvertently revealed that I knew which beer was which when I said “the first time I reviewed this beer”.  Anyhow, continuing with that thought, the first time I tried the KBS, I thought it would rival Bourbon County for me, but side by side, it comes up just a touch short.  Just like Pliny the Elder, I believe that this is a nearly technically perfect beer, and it may be the best Bourbon Stout I’ve had, but the Bourbon County, a.k.a. Beer A, is still my favorite. 

The Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe Trade

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Feb. 8, 2011

***UPDATE*** After a few weeks of struggle, the Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe IPA has finally arrived, check out the review here.***UPDATE***

Since we began reviewing beers here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights Worldwide Headquarters in Evanston, IL a few weeks ago, we’ve been picking some low hanging fruit.  Sure Hopslam is not a particularly common or easy to find beer all the time, but here in Chicago, it is not a problem to find it when it is released. 

Well, after four reviews (and with number five already in the pipeline) it is time to get serious about finding a few of the beers on The List that are not readily available.  So, I headed over to Beer Advocate to find some trading partners and I came across a user named nevins (funny coincidence of a name for those of you who know me) who was able to get his hands on beer #12 on The List – Weyerbacher Brewing Company’s Double Simcoe IPA.  Additionally, and what I originally got in on the trade for, he’ll be sending along a six pack of one of my all-time favorite IPAs – Ithaca Beer Company's Flower Power and a couple of Ithaca’s limited releases.  What I sent back to him in return is pictured on the right.  If you can't see, it's a six-pack of Bell's Hopslam, a couple bombers of Three Floyds Dreadnaught DIPA and a bomber of Three Floyds Behemoth, which I have yet to try, but will do so soon.  

Not a bad haul for either of us.

Anyhow, the Double Simcoe currently has a Beer Advocate rating of A-/4.16 and 994 BA members have reviewed it.  It has a 9% ABV and it is named after the hops in it – 100% Simcoe Hops, a variety that was created in 2000 out on the West Coast known for its piney taste and bitterness.

I'm looking forward to the whole lot from nevins and to writing the review!  Stay tuned.