It's Fucking Epic

Poor Gigazaur, you're dead because of me.

So somehow, last year, I managed to put away a bottle of Founder's Backwood's Bastard so that this year I could crack it open and compare to its "fresh" counterpart. It helps when I buy a massive purchase of beer so I can lose a beer in the mix. 2012 Backwoods was that beer. After that it was just waiting for the right moment.
Then I decided to play some King of Tokyo with two friends who love beer, and it seemed like a good time to bust out some aged deliciousness. (For the record, I've played 10 games of King of Tokyo and am an impressive 0-10, just saying.) We poured the fresh Bastard first, and the alcohol heat shined through along with excellent notes of sweet bread, vanilla and all those traditional other oak notes with a nice bitterness in the finish.
Similarly, the 2012 version was much less intense, with a more candy sweetness from the malt and no booze heat. The wood and vanilla was up front and the hops were faded away. This was an amazing smooth treat, blissfully sweet with lovely bourbon notes.
Taste preferences are amazing. Mike loved the fresh bastard, saying that while he hates bourbon, he loves the bourbon flavoring that the barrel adds this already pretty great scotch ale. Patrick and I enjoyed the aged version, enjoying the smooth malty sweetness and subdued oak that balances perfectly with the beer. All I really figured out is that one year of Backwood's Bastard fresh, or aged, is still just a delicious beer, and now if I could take Gigazaur to his rightful place as King of Tokyo I'd be happy.