Founders DKML
Here you have what could be the first malt liquor worthy of a glass. Typically a slighted style, we thought we would class it up with a stay in the wood and a healthy dose of dry-hopping. A huge hit of corn gives this one a smooth sweetness while its time spent aging in bourbon barrels will give you reason to share. Be warned: this one’s a pry-off, not a twist-off.
3.5
406 reviews
Grand Rapids, United States
Community reviews
355ml bottle. Pours a hazy medium amber, with a moderate off-white head, which lasts well and leaves decent lacing. Bourbon, vanillin oak, mild herbal hops and caramel in the aroma. Mild lemon hops up front, sweet caramel and bourbon heat in the mid-palate, followed by a touch of oak. Warming alcohol to finish. A weird one for sure. The flavours are pleasant, but it is a touch too light-bodied. It spectacularly fails to hide its ABV, but that actually kind of works in its favour. Overall not too bad.
35.5cl bottle at home, bought at Hopt. 2017 edition. Appearance: clear golden with medium sized white head. Aroma: bourbon, dark raisins and caramel. Taste: high sweetness and pretty high bitterness. Notes of bourbon, lots of raisins, sweet malts, boozy. Finish is dry and wry. Palate: medium bodied, oily texture and soft to medium carbonation. Overall: aroma is pretty good, taste is also pretty good, but there is something weird about the finish and mouthfeel. It is very alcoholic and that bothers me a bit.
Bottle. Aroma of corn, grain, cardboard and wood. Heavy Alcoholic burn. Moderate sweet and boozy. Light and sticky. What is this, definitely not my style...
Bottle. It pours bit hazy golden with a small white head. The aroma is oak, heavy corn, grain, light malt, cardboard, marzipan and light fruit. The flavor heavy sweet, heavy boozy and light bitter. No!
Clear golden color with white head, aroma of liqueur, bourbon, roasted malts and some tropical fruits, taste is medium bitter / medium sweet, medium body and carbonation.
Bottle at Hundholmen, Bodø. Two year old bottle. Pours a hazy bronze colour with a small light beige head. Aroma of liqueur, caramel, oatcakes, bread and dried apricot. Flavour of liqueur, bourbon, creme brulee, dried apricot and vanilla. Has a silky mouth feel, full-bodied and a light bitterness. Malty, sweet and surprsingly well balanced.
Clear golden color with off-white head. Aroma has some bourbon and toasted malts, a bit stinky though. Taste is bittersweet, malty and resiny, quite intense on the bourbon notes. Medium body and carbonation. A bit too boozy but overall it's quite good.
355 ml bottle, 2017 release, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 14.2%. Deep golden to amber colour, moderate to small white head. Distinct aroma of bourbon, oak and vanilla. Medium sweet flavour, again with distinct notes of bourbon, oak and vanilla, moderate hops. Warming mouthfeel.
Endelig er det mandag igjen, og seremonimester Melberg utskjenker i velkjent stil generøse mengder humørskapende styrkedråper. Mi2 er uten tvil Stavangers beste tilbud for ølnerder! 0,33 flasker, klar gyldent øl med fint skum som varer. en superfrisk versjon av barley wine, her finner jeg tørkede tropiske frukter, søte appelsiner, granskudd, vanilje, kokos og aprikoser. Lekker, fruktig bitterhet fra dry hopping. Dangerously drinkable. Jeg ser bare blide fjes rundt bordet, og praten går livlig.
Shared bottle at Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours hazy amber with little off-white head. Aroma of caramel, raisins, sherry, herbs, vanilla, oak. Tastes bitter with some sweetness. Medium bodied, slightly bitter finish.
Bottle from HJ Hansen. Hazy amber with a lasting white head. Big malty aroma of bread crust and biscuit with boozy notes of bourbon and dessert wine. Sweet malty flavour with bread, toffee and booze.
Amber and very clear. Nose really rich and toasty with barrel notes. Taste is slight alcoholic but sweet of corn, and lots of malty spices. Palate long and warm with sweet notes but also some alc.
355ml bottle. Crystal clear amber with one finger white head. Aroma is initially mixed fruits, pear, green apple and increasingly ripe ro even over-ripe banana giving way to ever expanding bourbon notes ending in an aroma almost completely of heavily oaked/woody bourbon. Taste is initially light, fizzy and alcoholic, like any strong pale lager/malt liquor but clean rather than dirty, giving way to some brief fruitiness and ending up tasting almost completely like a straight shot of cheap(er) (think Jim Bean white) bourbon. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, light in mouthfeel and fizzy in carbonation with an aftertaste again consisting pretty much of cheap(er) bourbon.
This makes me think Founders could brew some great everyday, or at least bulk, lagers if they put their mind to it. Maybe not amazing for the price point, but seen as a malt liquor this is mind blowing. With that in mind, my total score is meant to reflect something inbetween those two.
One of the key aspects of the American - and now global - craft beer movement is the reinvention of beer styles, as well as 'hybridizing' them to the point where they become unrecognisable as classic beer styles. Founders offers a textbook example with this beer: a malt liquor - one of the most appalling beer 'styles' of them all, the quintessence of America's downfall in beer quality in the decades up to the advent of craft beer and strongly associated with alcoholism and poverty - but aged in bourbon barrels, something the typical, industrial 'macro' producers of malt liquor, basically the American compeer of European strong lager but even worse in quality, much like American adjunct lager is the compeer of industrial European pale lager, would never even think of. Conceptually interesting idea and the first time I encounter malt liquor within the craft beer movement, but at the same time provoking suspicion as well... Medium thick, regular, mousy, thinly 'shred-lacing', slowly opening, off-white head on a cristal clear, warm amberish-tinged, 'metallic orange' blonde beer showing no visible sparkling; turns lightly misty and deeper amber with sediment added. Aroma instantly attacks the nose with strong boozy and solventy factors, it's effectively like opening a bottle of bourbon rather than a bottle of beer: Jack Daniels (or whatever brand the barrels came from) rules here, in its sweetness, 'corniness', varnish-like 'solventiness' and outspoken booziness, but gradually other elements unfold, including melting caramel candy, marmalade, honey cake, vanilla-like oak in a very 'clean' kind of way (as in e.g. calvados, which is the first scent springing to mind when sniffing this beer), subtle touch of dry cigarette tobacco somewhere. Notably sweet onset in a sugary, simple, non-fruity way, very honeyish and caramelly, soft carb with thick, vinous, almost syrupy mouthfeel; caramelly maltiness with indeed a lot of creamy, slick corn glides over the tongue with this sugary sweetness in its trail, dried by an increasing alcoholic heat, calvados-like initially but eventually necessarily shifting to outspoken bourbon. The wood is expressive as a vanilla-like oak effect retronasally plus drying tannins, but it is the booze that dominates most of this beer's flavour route, already heating in an early stage and eventually becoming harshly burning with all the solventy and astringent effects associated with it. Tastes almost like a true malt liquor, in itself already brutally boozy, with a shot of bourbon thrown in - but admittedly in a much more tasty way, with a more creamy 'body', less cheap metallic effects and so on. I guess this can indeed qualify as a malt liquor of above average quality, a barleywine-esque malt liquor as it were, but the bottom line for me is that it is way too boozy - I have physical difficulties downing an entire bottle, also because of its extreme ABV I guess, but my hatred for liquor probably plays a huge part in that so this is a very personal issue. Conceptually interesting, but malt liquor will always be malt liquor, I guess - this feels almost like a homeless person in an expensive suit, trying to look smart but unable to cover its depressing image. Nice attempt by Founders to try and upgrade one of the world's inherently saddest and worst beer styles, but for me this make-over does not quite work, I'm afraid. I'll have a KBS now please, thank you.
(puissant-triple (yeast, malt), effluves alcool, liquoreuse, not for sissies : ça décape (alcool, fût, amertume), très costaud)
Pour is dark amber with a nice white head. Aroma is sweet and malty. A sweet and malty beer with a hop note.
Bottle picked up on the reduced aisle at Westhill SS. It pours hazy rich orange with a medium white head. The aroma is rich, perfumed, big vanilla character, bourbon action, oak, toasty grain, sponge cane and toffee. The taste is dry, bitter, boozy kick, raw, oak, leather, light tannin, cornbread, oily, bourbon, toffee, caramel shortbread, grassy, varnish and resin with a hot, raw finish. Full body and moderate, foamy carbonation. Big, punchy and hot. Fun turbo juice.
Clear amber golden colour, diminishing white head. Aroma of bourbon, malts, corn, alcohol, hops. Sweet malty flavour, bitter hops, sweet corn, vanilla. Quite alcoholic. Finish wood, vanilla, hops, caramel and sweet malts. It's a fun beer to try, and kudos for originality.
(from 75cL bottle @ our NJ hideout)
355 ml bottle. Malt liquor pours orange and somewhat transparent with substantial carbonation. Bourbon and malts immediately hit on the nose. Tastes somewhat sweet and fresh with mild hops. Carbonation rounds out the palate.
This is like a lager crossed with a barleywine and cranked to eleven.
Nose is thick bourbon oak, nuts, sharp malts and yeast.
Palate is moderate to thick. No wateriness.
Taste gives heavy bourbon aniseed, tannins, sweet malts, pasta and more yeast from the nose. Alcohol is only prevalent on the way down.
It's super alcohol in a really good beer... almost takes your breath away. It gets better as it warms up. The alcohol is super high so 1 is the limit if you plan sobriety. Worth trying. Not good for a steady diet. A treat,
6th October 2018
Hazy amber beer, small cream colour head. Smooth palate, semi dry, reasonable fine carbonation. Lighter than you would expect for the hefty abv. Soft malts, light creamy sweetness, little caramel. Smooth bourbon dominates the back end, very mild bourbon spice. Little fruity bourbon. Trace of woody bitterness. Smooth finish. Very nice bourbon delivery system. Light fruity bourbon linger. Effortlessly drinkable. Yeah - this could be ruinous!
Bottle (best before 4/18): Deep golden, a bit unclear, small white foamy layer; mild alcoholic and caramelly-malty nose, solid herbal-hoppy backbone; moderate to solid bitter-sweet flavour, full bodied - as expected, but not so soft; lingering bitter-malty and alcoholic finish with some fruity traces and some expensive vanilla. Well made sleeping pill...
Flaska från SB. Ljus bärnstensfärgad klar vätska i princip utan skum. Doft och smak främst av bourbon och smakar i princip som utspädd dålig bourbon men med mer majs och inslag av övermogna söta äpplen. Hyfsat balanserad sötma och sippbar men att dela 33 cl på fyra kändes ganska lagom. Ok+
Pours hazy dark gold into a snifter. Soapy white head with medium retention recedes leaving spider lacing. Vanilla and bourbon aromas. Medium bodied with sweet candy corn and hot vanilla upfront turning to sweet bourbon in the lasting finish. I feel a head rush off one sip, not sure if it's the alcohol or the sugar, but I like head rushes...
Bouteille. Robe ambrée claire avec un mince voile de mousse. Arômes caramel doux, bourbon qui l'est tout autant,liqueur d'orange, butterscotch, vanille, bois. En bouche, malt très caramélisé, vanille, bois, butterscotch, noisettes. Arrière-goût de gâteau au miel et banane. Texture très liquoreuse et corps moyen à rond. Haut taux d'alcool bien intégré.
12 oz. bottle thanks to Willrunforbeer on the share. Clear golden color. Flavor of bourbon, caramel and maybe a light yeast. Full-bodied with plenty of bourbon. I guess you really can out any style beer in a bourbon barrel!!
Poured from bottle thanks Brian clear tan with an off white. Aroma is caramel bourbon light oak. Taste is tons of bourbon corn light toffee notes. Nice.
Pours lightly hazy orange-amber with a 2-finger white head. Aromas of wood and caramel...pretty much bourbon barrel. Full-bodied and syrupy. Boozy astringent finish, but not too harsh. Flavor is grainy, maybe corn, mixed with a caramel note. A note of wood underneath that lingers at the back.
Piwo po terminie do 26.06.2018 (przegapiłem xD) ! Zapach: umiarkowanie intensywny, taninowy, miodowy, szlachetny alkohol, wanilia, kokos, po zabełtaniu trochę estrów, bardzo przyjemna kompozycja. Smak: tu zaskoczenie bo alkohol jak na 14,2% jest dobrze ułożony, gładki, likierowy, słodowy, umiarkowanie niska goryczka, rozgrzewająco miodowy finisz. Bardzo ciekawe piwo, jak sądzę idealnie spasowałoby koneserom Bourbonu, gdybym ja decydował i jego nazwie, nazwałbym je Born In The U.S.A.