(Grand Rapids, MI) – Founders Brewing released Curmudgeon’s Better Half at the brewery yesterday. The beer is an old ale aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels.

The question on many minds…is the beer creating as much of a stir as the most recent beer in the Backstage Series, Canadian Breakfast Stout, did?

No.

The sale took place yesterday (Monday) so comparing the release to the Saturday sale of CBS in October is like comparing apples and oranges. People were allowed to repeatedly get back in line yesterday and many did so, taking home several bottles of the beer. Better Half reportedly sold out by mid-afternoon. More info on RateBeer.

On Beer Advocate, trade activity is very soft compared to CBS. 25 threads have been started in the 24 hours since the release compared to over 100 threads started in the same time frame when CBS was released. On a side note, the number of CBS trade threads on Beer Advocate since this past fall will eclipse 1,000 by the end of this month which, to my knowledge, is a record for a single beer. The number of people searching for Better Half versus the number of people offering the beer for trade is about even.

On eBay/BeerAuctions, people are balking at the ‘Buy it Now’ prices between $95-$100. It doesn’t look like bids will hit $100/bottle for this one as they did in some of the CBS auctions.

There isn’t nearly as much buzz as there was for CBS in the popular discussion forums either…the beer message boards like Beer Advocate and RateBeer, Facebook and Twitter.

All of those points aside, distribution is expected to work similarly to CBS. Quantities on a per-store basis will still be limited enough to the point where attaining this beer may lead to some headaches.

As the saying goes, “your mileage may vary.”