Founders American Black Ale

Formerly brewed at Founders Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Very dark brown with a thin head. Hoppier than I expected the nose to be with chocolate, maple, faint lemon. Plenty of velvety chocolate malt, maple, crips hops. Brown sugar/maple finish. A bit like bells double cream stout with most of the sweetness removed.

Outstanding. Deep black colored pour with a nice creamy tan head. Smooth light chocolate aroma with something more complex I cannot identify. Extra smooth palate. This was fantastic.

My beer poured with a crazy 4" head that just kept going and going! It was like an infected bottle might be, but there seemed to be no sign of infection in the taste. Weird. The beer is like a porter, more than an ale. It’s extremely roasty with quite a bit of bitterness. Some would say there’s a taste of coffee. Not pleased with the massive foam head.

Sweet malty aroma - hazelnut, chocolate, and hints of coffee. Dark brown color, very little head. Sweet malty flavor, all of the elements of the aroma plus a little caramel. Kind of chalky, a little astringency from the roasted grains. Medium body. Somewhere between a dark mild ale and a porter. No hop presence at all. Decent session ale.

not quite sure how to characterize this beer--if i had to pick a style, i’d pick porter. sweet chocolate aroma, some malt and a tiny bit of ginger-like spice. deep ruby color, smallish tan head. interestingly complex flavor, very sweet but not cloying--a touch of hops deep in the body but the palate seems a bit weak for such a dark beer. definitely worth a drink.

Pours a almost black with almost no head. Aroma is malty. Flavor is chocolate and malt. I can almost taste no difference from the black rye i had from the same brewer. The beers are basically the same. If you like chocolate and coffee tasting beer both the rye and the black are for you.

Bottle. Poured a small tan head with sparse lacing, opaque, carbonated, black hue. Malty, roasted coffee, chocolate, and very light hoppy aroma. Malty, roasted coffee, and light caramel flavor. Medium bodied beer with a tingly mouthfeel.

Something must have been wrong with this bottle as it poured the most massive head I’ve ever seen--about 2 ounces from the bottle completely filled my 8-ounce-ish tulip; brown head on a near-opaque black body with light tan floaties. Cold, this is a pretty crappy beer; warm, it’s an okay-but-not-that-good beer. Aroma is mostly sweet malts with a hint of coffee and ash. Flavor has a light hint of caramel, lots of roastiness (seriously, surprised), and some smokiness. Thick but a little syrupy. This is a very unusual beer but not something I will buy again.