Founders Breakfast Stout

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

Poured a bleak black color with a light tan head. Aroma was of a lot of chocolate and coffee with smoke notes also. Flavor was consumed by the smokey/burnt coffe flavor and not much sweetness as I had expected. Not necisarily a bad thing, just not what the label describes very much.

Black body, dark brown edge, beautiful brown head, some laces; Big, deep and actually quite elegant nose: There is huge amounts of coffee, fruity red berried African and very ,very soft Latin American, behind it strong notes of cold powerful well made Italian espresso, it has a very small amount of milk chocolate and a big amount of dry high % Valrhona chocolate, dry oatmeal, lots of hard powerful English licorice as well, Balanced!; The body is full with a soft texture and a quit big amount of red berry fruity acidity, very, very little carbonation, a little bitter and a little salty, could be better balanced; It finishes long with a little salt, more bitterness and again quite a bit of fruity acidity (better balanced then in body) it has a quite soft texture that disappears a bit in the acidity, alcohol shows a bit, lots of aroma: English licorice is in charge, trailing bitter chocolate, warm Latin American coffee and unripe red berries - Great beer, thanks Walt!

12oz bottle from hopscotch. Opaque black with brown syrupy head. Strong espresso aroma, light chocolate and roasted grain. Pine bitter flavor with slight alc. Full, creamy body, little carb but surprisingly doesn’t get syrupy. Fantastic, certainly a beer I’ll pick up next time I’m in MI.

Pours opaque with well retained dark tan colored head. Aroma is very rich with heavily roasted coffee beans, and a bit of hops. Flavor is really rich and very expresso like with a delicous and judicous use of hops in the finish. Nice bit of dark choclate as well. Mouthfeel is thick and velvety without going overboard. As a coffee lover, this is almost perfect.

Draft at Spuyten Duyvil. Black pour with some tan head. Aroma is sweet oaty malt, roasted malt, coffee, and some cola. Flavor is the same, sweet oaty malt and chocolate, roast, cola, some not-fresh coffee grounds in the finish. It’s good, but not really my style.

Sampled at the stout tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 10/13/08. Pours pitch black with a minimal head. Aroma is coffee, coffee, coffee and a little bit of chocolate. Flavor is pretty much the same. Pretty good hop balance and an outstanding all around brew.

Had this in 90 degree heat. Why? Still, rich flavors of coffee and chocolate. Very smooth. Up there with other Michigan stouts.

This one has been sitting in the fridge for a while and i’m not sure why i pulled it out now other than the fact it had been staring at me asking me to drink it for so long. Pours like any other stout black with a minimal brown head. Completely opaque. Big coffee aroma. Getting some licorice in there as well. Coffee and melted milk chocolate flavors are delectable. Slight hop flavoring to balance all the crazy ass malt out. This is one of the more entertaining impy stouts i’ve had in a while.