Is Founders CBS still worth seeking out?

Or is it past its prime? Lining up a trade and just curious if anyone has had it out if the bottle in the last 1-2 months and can share if its still worth trading a solid rare beer or two for?

Pretty sure im going to move forward as others are in the mix, but curious what the consensus is and if you recommend drinking it sooner than later once received? I know the maple syrup flavor is not as prominent from what I've read, just want to make sure a year hasn't completely compromised the entire flavor of the beer.

Thanks in advance!

You're going to get both answers so it's really up to you. Fresh, this beer was unbelievable. I had it around June and thought it fell off a cliff. No maple and barely any bourbon. I mean, it was still good but not didn't even come close to how good it was fresh. Just my stupid two cents.

what temp was it stored at?

I had it last in September. The maple and coffee were a bit subdued, but the beer has held up pretty well.

In a fridge. probably around 40 degrees I would imagine. My buddy doesn't have a cellar and he keeps is rare beers in this small fridge.

No clue on temp,but lots if trades so hoping he has it in a cool dark place

nice.

I can't say from personal experience, but the reviews haven't fallen off noticably. I personally decided it was worth trading for another bottle.

2009 on draft was the best beer I've ever had.

There's your answer.

fresh, it was unexpectedly hoppy, in a way that i felt slightly interfered with the other flavors. had one two months ago, and it was great. it seems the maple is never again going to be like the intense maple bomb we were blessed with at EBF a few years ago (2009?)

what?

Damn ive been looking to trade for it!!!

Where does he keep his CBS, then?

Probably not. I had it fresh and then a few months later, and it was noticeably less good already. Fast forward to now and I bet it's just a shell.

Yeah, I bet!

ISO: CBS FT: 2 Narwhals, plus extras!!

It is for sure past it's prime but either people holding on to it like it with age or they won't admit it. I personally don't like kbs aged and I don't like CBS aged, get it fresh!!

Had one a few weeks ago, and while the coffee held up nicely, the maple had really faded. Overall, it was pretty underwhelming.

did you also have it fresh last year? the maple was barely noticeable even then.

Didn't get a chance to try it fresh, but I do prefer KBS fresh if that counts for anything. Had the CBS with BT, BCBS, and Pugachev's Cobra, and everyone agreed it was the least favorite of the bunch.

even if the comparison was done blind, that lineup is too disparate. CBS has the lowest ABV of the bunch by far.

We did do a blind tasting, but it wasn't planned. Just worked out that way as everybody brought something nice over. Even if it would have been on it's own, I would have been underwhelmed by the CBS. To each their own though.

I cracked my bottle about a year ago. It was good, but not great. It certainly didn't compare to the draft versions I have had. It honestly wasn't a whole lot different from KBS at that time. I can't imagine that age would have improved it.

Other than the expectation that trade value would go up, I have no idea what why anyone would have aged this beer.

I know this is all probably ironic because of my avatar, but on draft, it is still one of the best beers I have ever had. Easily.

HEY BUT YOUR AVAT-

Oh, never mind.

There is a good chance it will be seen again, I would not mess around with seeking out a bottle at this point. Conflicting reports regarding how its doing and the fact you'll be paying a premium for it does not make it the ideal target IMO.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Backwoods Bastard is a better beer. I'll take a four pack of Backwoods over a 750 of CBS everytime.

I agree with this completely. Fresh CBS was nice but beyond the novelty of trying it I didn't find it as good as other Founders stuff including Backwoods Bastard.

Thanks for all of the feedback.....looks like ill be keeping my King Henry and just waiting for CBS to hopefully be in the calendar this your or next for their backstage release.

I would add that Bell's Black Note beats Backwoods, at least on tap. I had them both in the same evening and the Black Note was much more flavorful.

My one experience with CBS was on tap last spring. I enjoyed it, but it's hard to separate the rarity factor from the experience. I suspect that had I not known it as an incredibly hard to get and coveted maple beer, it wouldn't have been nearly as pleasing. It wasn't a maple bomb by any means.

I recently had this on Christmas, and it is completely different than when I had it on tap. As weird as it sounds the bottle I had it started to taste minty, all the maple was gone, and the bourbon was barely noticeable. I have no idea where the mint flavor is coming from.

Omg...CBS Armageddon! Trade it all now before it's too late!! Aaaaarrrrggghhhhhh!!!!

I had the same experience, I'd wait for a new batch.

This really does seem to be how this kinda thing happens, though. I'll be watching to see the fallout (if any).

if you never had CBS fresh how do you know the maple faded?

The other people at our little tasting had mentioned the maple was alot more prominent when it was fresh (They actually had it fresh), but overall it was a poor choice of words on my part. How about this, "The maple profile was disippointing." Look, I still thought it was a very good beer, just not worth trading top notch beers for. Would take a 4 pack BCBS over a CBS anyday. But that's just my opinion.

Oddly enough, I had one of my bottles of Curmudgeon's Better Half right around Thanksgiving and there was a minty taste to it that all 3 of us drinking noticed. Wonder if it is a something to do with the Maple Bourbon barrels? I did have some CBS from a bottle around July 4th and got no mint however.

with these bottles, the maple was barely noticeable to begin with. the only time CBS has ever shown prominent maple was in EBF (2009?), in which it was a delicious maple bomb.

I was disappointed by this beer both times I had it, albeit probably due to my high expectations.

When was the last time CBS was released - about a year ago this time right?

October 2011, I believe.

I've had 2 bottles of CBS. The first one fresh was really awesome (nice and hoppy, bourbon bomb), the second one about 2 months ago was on another level though. It tasted like the coffee and bourbon characters had gone into the background slightly and the chocolate and maple flavors were very prominent. I think this one is drinking fine right now