Founders Brewing at Frisco

Beer Tastings, Breweries, craft beer, Pubs, , , , ,

Wednesday Pint Night in Columbia

Founders coozy and pint glass
Founders Swag

We all drifted into the Frisco Tap House in Columbia around 7:00pm for pint night. The promise of swag and delicious beer from the Grand Rapids, Michigan brewer, Founders, drew 6 of us in. Friscos offered about 10 Founders beers on tap. Pint night runs from 7-10pm, with a free glass if you try one of the featured brewer’s beers. As an added bonus, 2 raffles, a Founders’ lawn chair at 8 o’clock and a red Founders’ Coleman cooler at 9 o’clock, were on the agenda.

The Prep

Like any true beer nerd, I need to prep for the night’s sampling.  First, I visit the Frisco Tap House web site, navigate to the event page and find the pint night brewer and the expected beers on tap. Since I do not like to drink alone, I then send out an invite via GroupMe to the pint night gang, letting them know the brewer.  Next, I turn to the enormous beer database from Beer Advocate to evaluate the beers. Finally, I make a list, usually handwritten, with the Beer Advocate’s ratings and beer type. I’ll place an asterisk next to my beer(s). When I’m feeling clairvoyant, I try to predict other people’s beers, usually with hilarious results.

The Beers

With a pretty big group, we did our best to try all the Founders’ beers on tap. Beer Advocate rates Founders’ Backwoods Bastard, Breakfast Stout and Harvest Ale as “World Class” beers. Here’s what we tried with links to Beer Advocate where applicable:

The Curmudgeon is an old ale, with a molasses nose and bourbon taste. The Gose With Watermelon reminded me of a saltwater-logged watermelon jolly rancher. Only a couple of us enjoyed that one. Wow, the blushing monk smells strongly of raspberries. It reminds me of a Lindemans raspberry lambic. Backwoods Bastard is divine, a wee heavy scotch ale tasting of caramel and bourbon. The Breakfast Stout is another world class beer, tasting of coffee and chocolate. Founders really hit the nail on the head with their Harvest Ale. It is complex with a high ABV of 7.6%. The Pale Ale is a solid pale ale. When the Pale Joe arrived, I had assumed that the server had brought the wrong beer. I looks exactly like the Pale Ale, but smells and tastes of coffee.

The Raffles

Even though most of us did not want a lawn chair, at 8 o’clock, we all scurried over to hear the winning number called. I was relieved when it was not me, and proclaimed, “I never win anything”. At 9 o’clock we again headed as lemmings to see who would win the fancy cooler. Again, I commented on my winless streak. To my surprise, the streak ended and I became the proud owner of a brand new Founders cooler!

Cheers!

Warren