CulturAle Press

Great Beer for the New Year #9:  Founders Dank Wood, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Date:  January 14, 2018

The Story—  Founders began in the 1990s as Canal Street Brewing — its logo featured “founders” above the brewers that used to brew on Canal Street and the name stuck.   They’ve grown to one of the larger craft brewers, churning out about a third of a million barrels a year.

We were, of course, drawn to a beer that calls itself “dank wood” and were not disappointed.   There is dankness to the hops, but also lots of chocolate and citrus.   We rarely buy a six or four pack of a beer when a single is available, but we scarfed this up and I’m only sorry we didn’t get another four pack.

The Beer— Says it’s dank and so it is.   Dank and wood with a big rich dark chocolate and a hint of tobacco and some citrus.  A bit of Whitman candy with a bit of peach and pineapple center. A bit of spice into the aftertaste, but it gets woodier as it drinks. A chewy caramel malt sustains the trip to the dank side.  Ellie liked it almost as much as I did, but thought the booze “just sits there and burns.”

Value —  Good to very good.    $17.99 for a four pack.  $4.50 is a bit steep for a bottle you’re going to take home, but this is a bottle you want to take home.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 This week we’re featuring some great beers for the New Year– dark and rich treasures for a snowy evening.  Below are links to the other beers in this series.

Jailbreak Coffee Dusk Till Dawn, Tröegs Mad Elf Grand Cru, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Boulevard Manhattan Cask Still Ale, Ommegang Game of Thrones Series: Mother of Dragons, Lickinghole Creek Carrot Cake Imperial Amber Ale, Colbitzer Heide-Brauerei Schwarz,

Next week we return to the US to highlight some small breweries — the Davids in these Goliath movement– where we’ve just savored our time there.  They’re all within a few hours drive if you live in the Mid Atlantic.  We’ve found these in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it later this year.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”