Founders Breakfast Stout

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Pours a thick black with virtually no head--bu what head there is is brown and creamy looking. Aroma of flaked oats, bitter chocolate as well as coffee-as well as you might have guessed. Taste right off is of coffee, also some toasted malts--then the dark chocolate comes in. Very smooth. Slight alcohol in the finish. Softly carbonated. Wish I could explain this better, but for now I will be phoning Randy @ Archer Liquors for more of this beer.

12 oz. Opaque black with a small head that tries to last, and leaves some frosty lace. Aroma is pretty much pure coffee, maybe some oats. Flavor is coffee, turning to cocoa and oats, some light peanut and caramel. Yummy. Heavy body is smooth, sticky and dryish, with some light tingle.

Just a spectacular stout...rich roasted vanilla/coffee/caramel/chocolate/espresso/oatmeal/ fruit....and on and on and on...The mouthfeel is a little thin surprisingly, yet that works for me...I’m not so overwhelmed and sated by one of these babies...Thank God, because I’ve got three more waiting to follow the way the first one went. I am beginning to really keep my eyes on this brewery...so many of their entries are worthwhile. (Ratebeer message me, guys, and I’ll let you know where to send my "Thank You")

Bottled. Rating #600! And I’m rating this "live," which means I’m probably swayed by all the great numbers here. But there’s a wonderful oatmeal and coffee smell when I pour it out, into a pitch black body with a short, but dense foam that’s brown as the foam on an espresso. First taste impression is very coffee-bitter. Hell, I never take my coffee this bitter. Almost wonder if I should put in a little cream, or even some Kahlua. Nah, stick it out, Drink, ol’ boy. Chocolatey like those tiny squares of 75% cocoa chocolate at Starbucks. Alcohol may not be apparent, but I can sure tell it’s there. Leaves my lips pretty sticky. Picking up a cherry cordial suggestion toward the end. Oh, and there’s plenty of good beery bitterness to go along. It’s kind of a little brother to a DFH WWStout. I could have followed the example of some other raters and had this over breakfast, but I’m much more eloquent this time of night and besides, I had a Smithwick’s for breakfast at Midway airport last weekend that I still must (p)rate about.

Original Rate - 7/11/2005 - 12 Oz Bottle (948418-4.3)Deep, smooth silky rich oil pour, with a mostly diminished thin line of smooth nut brown head. Bouncy blast of spicy roasted coffee, blended with a super lucious backing of ganache and cinnamon. Great vinous notes in the aroma, with cherries, currants and plum. Aroma is tantalizing! Most complex bouquet I can ever remember a beer presenting. Flavors are a continuation of the aromas, blending with interesting textures. Taste is dominated by strong presence of roasted dark chocolate, roasted grains, and deep coffee. A warming alchol brings up the background nicely, with a soft hint of hops. This beer is thick! Like a smooth sugar syrup. Palate is a ubiquitous and coating, leaving an oily slick of rich hazlenuts and coffee dregs with sugars on the tounge, with a hint of dryness on the smack. This beer is fantastic all around!Rerate - 1/17/2007 - 12 Oz Bottle (848416-4.0)Ripe coffee berry and sweet cinnamon cream aroma, lots of bold grocery store coffee ground dusts and faint wisps of licorice-infused chocolate. Seemingly flat and a little stalish. Pours beautifully, with oil black humours and a frothy mexican chocolate and cinnamon roast head, rimming with large bubbles and lots of lace. On the palate a yeasty, biting sweetness, jam packed with a profuse coffee dance and a myriad of dark chocolate brownies, cakes and cremes. Truffles and divine hot fudge syrup, spooned over an oaty rich, lightly roasted chipotle and seared lamb rack crust. Bright esters hold unique wintery spices and a lot of depth. Ebbing into the background are some minty hop flowers and a parching coffee and hop balance to the ubiquitous sweetness. Coffee plays a little heavier than I remember and the density isn’t quite there. True, this isn’t the breakfast stout of old, but it hasn’t suffered that much.

Pours a dark chocolatey black, with a quickly diminishing light brown head. Coffee anybody?? thats really all I get in the smell as it is so overpowering that its hard to detect much else. Quite dandy though. the taste is oviously coffee as well, finish kind of tastes like a frappucino. Lovely chocolate in it as well. This is my kind of beer. Nicely done.

Cheers to Ernest for sharing a bottle. Black as night with a small head of light tan foam. Deep aroma that shows deep coffee beans, chocolate, roasted malts and even more coffee. Deep coffee flavor. Extremely rich and just the perfect amount of hop flavor; barley any at all. Big coffee, chocolate, roasted malt flavor. Extremely thick. Very tasty.

Another of my perfect scores! My OCD prevents me from giving a "best" score so this is, in fact, my best. I felt like the baby on the label drikinging this...a big smile and wanting more. The aroma was a huge blast of coffee. The taste was roasted malt/coffee/chocolate with a nice bitter finish. The mouthfeel was like syrup. The beautiful deep black of this beer made me feel patriotic. The tan/almost deep cherry head made me wish it was morning...so I could have some more breakfast.