Founders Brewing: The Story from Founders Brewing Co. on Vimeo.

We are honored and humbled to have been ranked the second best brewery in the world, two years in a row, and to have our KBS rated the fourth best beer in the world, both by RateBeer.com.

Thanks to all of you for supporting us in doing what we love every day and for allowing us to share it with you.

Here are some pictures of the newest addition to our Backstage lineup (and the happy Founders Family working hard)!

Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 6, 2012—Founders Brewing Co.’s Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing, Dave Engbers, announced today that All Day IPA would be the next addition to the brewery’s year-round lineup, with availability limited to Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and the greater Chicago area beginning on February 6, 2012.

All Day IPA is a session ale that has the traditional qualities of an India Pale Ale with significantly lower alcohol. At 4.7% ABV, the beer is highly drinkable, but maintains the intense tropical aromatics and complex flavors consistent with Founders’ portfolio.

This beer was in development for nearly three years before the brewery perfected it. Then, the All Day IPA recipe won the silver medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. Due to capacity constraints and multiple expansions, Founders Brewing Company now feels they are prepared to launch their first year-round product since 2006. Limited distribution is due to the soft hop harvest. “We will never compromise a recipe in order to increase sales,” explains Engbers.

“It’s the beer that almost wasn’t,” says Co-Founder, President & CEO Mike Stevens. “It’s tough to brew and gave us more than one problem throughout its development. But then we realized that this is the beer we’d all been waiting for.”

Engbers adds, “We pride ourselves on only putting beers in bottles that we would pick out on the shelves ourselves—and we’re picky beer drinkers…it would be just wrong not to be bottle All Day IPA.”

The last beer that Founders added to its year-round six-pack and draft lineup was Red’s Rye PA in 2006.

Founders Brewing Company opened their doors in 1997 with the vision of creating some of the most unique craft beer in the world. Today, Founders has a loyal following, with several beers lauded nationally and internationally as award winners in their respective categories. They are currently rated the second highest brewery in the world by ratebeer.com.

Founders Brewing Company, 235 Grandville Avenue SW in downtown Grand Rapids, is a proud member of the Michigan Brewers Guild and the Brewers Association.

Thanks to Jason (Twitter handle = @headyhopzhead) and his wife for submitting this recipe for mocha coffee cake that, as Elysia said, “was sinfully delicious…Fabulous cake that pairs well with some of my husband’s favorite beers!”

Ingredients

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
1-3/4 cups sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup coffee beer [1/2 cup = 4 fl. oz, so 1/3 of a bottle of Breakfast Stout or KBS...you'll want to measure the CBS out as it will be hard to estimate with a 750mL bottle] OR coffee liquor
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 package (10 to 12 ounces) white baking chips
1/3 cup butter, cubed
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

WHIPPED CREAM:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, sour cream, eggs, coffee beer (or liquor), and oil; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Transfer to three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans.

Bake at 350° for 24-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
In a microwave, melt the white baking chips, butter and remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Stir in coffee granules and extract. Cool to room temperature.

In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cream; let stand for 1 minute. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir into chocolate mixture. In a large bowl, beat the remaining 1-1/4 cups cream until soft peaks form. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture; beat until stiff peaks form.

For whipped cream, in a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until stiff peaks form.

Place bottom cake layer on a serving plate; top with half of the chocolate mixture.

Repeat layers. Top with the remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake with whipped cream. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Yield = 16 servings

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We’re just loving getting recipes in from those of you that have been submitting! Please feel free to email me any recipes of dishes that you made using our beer, and it just may appear on our blog (attaching pictures will help your cause): sarah [at] foundersbrewing [dot] com. Cheers!

Christmas Eve Day
Noon to 5pm
Deli: Window Service Only

Christmas Day
CLOSED

New Year’s Day
3pm to 12am

**Regular hours on all other days.

And we’ll be having a special New Year’s Eve show with the Crane Wives and special guest Paper Thick Walls.

Thanks to phil dokas for uploading this photo to our Flickr pool!

Grand Rapids, Michigan, December 14, 2011 — Founders Brewing Co.’s Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing, Dave Engbers, announced today that Curmudgeon’s Better Half would be the next release in the brewery’s 750mL Backstage Series, with availability beginning on February 13, 2012, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

There has been a great deal of anticipation and speculation on the upcoming Backstage release because of the success of the first two large bottle format releases: Blushing Monk and Canadian Breakfast Stout earlier in 2011. The purpose of the series is to bring some of Founders’ most sought after beers, which had previously been available primarily at the brewery taproom or at a few select events, to a much larger audience.

“It’s been a lot of fun to watch the beer enthusiasts speculate,” explains Founders’ President, Mike Stevens. “We really try to keep people guessing, but at the end of the day our focus has always been on making beers that over-deliver.”

Curmudgeon’s Better Half is a re-branding of the beer formerly known as Kaiser’s Curmudgeon, which has only been served at Founders’ taproom and in extremely limited draft distribution. Curmudgeon is an old ale brewed with molasses and aged on oak; it becomes Better Half after aging—for 254 days—in bourbon barrels that have more recently been aging Michigan maple syrup. As a result, Curmudgeon’s Better Half is a bit sweeter than her miserly counterpart. Appropriately, the beer label depicts her holding a pitcher of syrup for the Curmudgeon’s breakfast, and is released at the perfect time of year for you to buy one for the Better Half in your life.

“The goal of the Backstage Series is to allow those beer enthusiasts who don’t have the ability to make it to our taproom an opportunity to experience some of the beers that, historically, have been limited to our taproom and a handful of high exposure events,” Engbers said. “Although these beers are not brewed in large volume, it is our intention to distribute them to all of our markets.”

The company is not revealing any additional releases in the series, but Engbers said it would consist of many of the “popular one-offs and possible big experiments” that have been offered in the taproom over the years and have become favorites among patrons and brewery staff.

The company expects to release two additional products in the Backstage Series later in 2012.

Ingredients

Brownies:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Founders Breakfast Stout
5 oz Bittersweet Chocolate (60% cacao preferred)
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder (Dutch Chocolate preferred)
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Pumpkin Cheesecake topping:
8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 egg yolk
1/3 sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (roasted cinnamon if possible)
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Add cream cheese and sugar to mixing bowl, and beat with hand mixer until creamy. Add pumpkin, egg yolk and spice to cream cheese mixture, and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Adjust spice flavor to taste. Refrigerate mixture until brownie batter is complete.

Add 1/2 of butter and 1/2 cup of Founders Breakfast Stout to sauce pan. Heat over medium flame until mixture starts to bubble. Once mixture starts to bubble, remove from heat and stir in 5oz of chocolate.

Add 2 egg, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup dark brown sugar to mixing bowl. Beat in mixture for 2-3 minutes or until mixture is evenly incorporate and creamy.
Sift in 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup cocoa and 1/4 tsp salt. Add 1 tsp of vanilla and blend until evenly incorporated. Stir in chocolate and beer mixture, blend until evenly incorporated.

Pour mixture into an 8×8 greased pan. Carefully top brownie batter with the pumpkin cheesecake mixture. Brownie batter and cheesecake mixtures can be swirled using a knife.

Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees or until tooth pick can be inserted and comes out clean. The pumpkin adds a considerable amount of moisture to the cheesecake topping; be careful not to over cook the brownies. Moist cheesecake topping will set with refrigeration.

We are always accepting recipe suggestions, especially if they come with pictures! Feel free to send any recipe that you’ve made using our beer (or that pairs perfectly with one of our beers) to sarah [at] foundersbrewing [dot] com.

Here are a few pictures of the new line in action: