Founders Breakfast Stout

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

Rating #333. 12oz bottle, fresh from Michigan, courtesy of artusory. Thanks, Ryan!! Pours a pitch black core with thin brown edges; medium tan head with patchy, fine-bubbled lacing. Full aroma: enormous amounts of roasted coffee and chocolate. Full, velvety mouthfeel: layers upon layers of bitter chocolate and coffee beans; roasted malts, hints of dough and bread; nice balancing bitterness from what I can only guess are light, piney hops. Long, balanced, dark and milk chocolate finish, with plenty of roasted coffee threaded throughout. I’m not normally one for coffee-based stouts, but this is incredibly good and not green in the slightest.

Bottle Pours a deep reddish brown with a disapating tan head. The head laces well. Has good aromas of chocolate, coffee, spices, and fruits. Has a good carbination. A hearty mouthfeel. This one is full bodied with a thick texture. The flavors are good with lots of chocolate. Has a good solid finish and a good aftertaste. This is a real good beer.

A trade extra from Emacgee. Pours black in color with a brown head. Aroma is great on this beer, with alot of fresh dark chocolate, fresh roasted coffee, and malty sweetness- one of the best aromas I’ve encountered in a stout. Taste is not even slightly a letdown- with a burst of rich coffee and chocolate over a sweet caramel base- rich full body, yet very smooth, creamy and drinkable. Finishes with lingering coffee beans, chocolate, and roasted malt bitterness. Drinking this was a great experience, thanks again Ethan.

Bottle. Lots of coffee, roast and chocolate in the nose, but the coffee is really exemplary. Easily the darkest black pour I’ve seen (through 926), not just opaque, but seemingly drawing and absorbing light from sources around it. Little, sticky dark brown head. Robust salty flavor, dark chocolate and roast and coffee. Really salty. Dryness increases to an almost unbearable level toward the end, and the brutally dry and roasty aftertaste is memorable to say the least. Full body also has light sour notes, but the mf is light with a creamy texture. Redefines the scale for coffee flavor in stouts; the minor flaws here are found in the body (not as full as it could be) and the aroma (not as intense as others in the style), but they’re really just little nits. Intense!

Bottle. Black colour with a tan head. Aroma is coffee, hop, roasted. Flavour is coffee, hop, roasted, sweet, chocolate. Coffee and bitter finish. very nic beer.

Pours blacker than black with just a trace of a dense tan head. The nose is fiercly coffee. Acidic dark roasted coffee with a touch of fruit. Caramel and roasted malts provide a touch of sweetness. Bitter chocoate pervades. The texture is really unbelievable. Viscous and oily with minor carbonation, this is a beer I swear you could chew. Next time I hear someone carrying on about the virtues of Guinness and how meal-like it is, I’ll suggest trying one of these first. The tastes are just as rewarding. Big rather sweet malt comes out of nowhere like a truck. It’s married so naturally with the bitterness of the coffee and chocolate that it doesn’t overwhelm or even approach the realm of cloying. Deep coffee-like roast and fruity acidity unfront. This tastes like a coffee with cream! There’s some subdued caramel and chocolate filling in nicely. Perhaps light floral hops filling in the background. This is a beautifully orchestrated beer. I enjoyed it more with each sip, once getting through the initial acidity. Now I hope the lingering acidic chocolate coffee never go away! Bravo Founders!

12oz - Finally tracked this down. Pours like two stroke oil, no real head. Roasted marshmallows and campfire on palate. Big roasted notes on palate without an oily linger. Nice.

12 ox bottle. OK, so I was in Wisconsin visiting my folks and figured I must pick up a bottle to see if this really lives up to its name. As I poured the beautiful blackness I could smell the coffee permeate the air. As I dug my nose in deeper, you can really appreciate the hints of chocolate, roasted malts, and a slight sweetness. Flavor is made only for true beer lovers and I felt slightly guilty that I was not really worthy to rate such a complex beer. Flavor is blended so well with coffee, oats, and chocolate. A slight bitterness in the finish and just enough warming to make one truely fall in love this beer.