Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout

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

draft @ Brouwer’s Stout Night to start SBW - wow, what a surprise!! jet black with foamy tan head; tons of coffee at first sniff, so yeah, this is my thing; sticky, sweet and full bodied; quite rich with maple, vanilla, chocolate and coffee; wow, just a glass of sweet stout goodness; this one has it all :)

Hand bottle courtesy of StFun – thanks Josh! Pours pitch black with a thin tan head. The nose is roasty malt, vanilla, dark chocolate and light coffee. The taste is cocoa, bakers chocolate, vanilla, light maple and spiked coffee. The maple is very understated which is great. Full creamy mouthfeel. Delicous stuff. Thanks again Josh!

Thanks to ucusty for giving this to us. Handbottle. Pours a viscous oily black with a one finger dark brown head. Looks awesome. Nose is rich and mildly sweet, chocolate for sure, some coffee roast, mild woody character. Flavor is sweet, chocolate, some coffee, mild bitterness, a little wood comes through. Palate is velvety and coating with a mild roast. Looks and feels great but smells and tastes pretty good.

On tap at Blue Dog. Dark black color with a tall tan/brown head. Aroma of chocolate, coffee, caramel, maple, and alcohol. Flavor of chocolate, coffee, vanilla, maple, and roasted malts. Just incredible!

Handbottle from Ucusty. Thanks so much for securing this David! Pours a thick, thick black with a small brown lace. Nose is sweet with caramel, slight maple, chocolate. Thick palate, yet silky smooth going down. Flavors of vanilla, brown sugar, coffee bitterness, and overall sweetness. Its sweet, without being too cloying.

Hand bottle shared by Sparky27 via STFun..you two ROCK!!! Midnight pour with dark brown leather around the outer edges and a khaki swirl for a head. Aroma is sweet maple, cocoa, brown sugar, and alcohol (could swear this was bourbon-barrel aged). Flavor includes molasses, chocolate, and bourbon...medium to thick palate. Glad to have had a chance to try this!!! THANKS AGAIN!!!

Founders Canadian Breakfast bourbon maple coffee nose black pour thin tan bubbly head. Coffee sweetness bourbon maple. Lightly roasty, some booze. Sweet barrel notes, light maple in the finish.nice balance between roast, coffee, dry and sweet. Really solid stuff. Drinks nicely, some vanilla sweetness in finish.

REVIEW #1000! Beer has officially taken over my life! Growler generously shared by largadeer on BA (thanks, Chris!). I was really looking forward to trying this beer and annoyed him about it at every possible opportunity. Growler did leak in transit and lose a substantial amount of beer, so the packaging materials were lucky enough to sample quite a bit of this rare brew. Fortunately the beer was still great, even if a little flat. I knew from the start this was right up my alley since I love imperial stouts, coffee, and maple syrup. I could probably take almost anyone in a Super Troopers style syrup bottle chug. Pours black and viscous with the tiniest bit of brown foam when agitated. Clung to the side of the glass when swirled. Aroma is coffee, roast, maple syrup, and a tiny bit of alcohol. Very inviting. As for flavor, I’ve heard you can drop a tablespoon of maple syrup into a Breakfast Stout and approximate this beer pretty closely closely. CBS is a little fuller-bodied and more viscous, but as far as taste goes, that is a very good approximation. Flavor is lots of bitter coffee that is very reminiscent of regular Breakfast Stout, roasted malt, dark chocolate, maple syrup, vanilla, and a faint hint of oak. Alcohol is detectable but very well-hidden. This beer is really well-rounded and succeeds in balancing the sweetness from the syrup and malt with the coffee bitterness. Because of the shipping mishaps, the amount of carbonation was somewhere between really, really, ridiculously low and Angels Share - i.e. it was damn near flat. Surprisingly, that didn’t matter much. Call me crazy, but I like it when a syrup beer has a syrup-like mouthfeel. That’s exactly how this was. CBS is smooth and viscous on the way down and lingers on the palate afterwards. This is incredibly drinkable for an imperial stout. The second I put the glass down, I was thinking about my next sip. It just keeps you wanting that mapley, coffeey (not even close to being a word, I know) goodness and almost makes you cry when it’s gone and you know you’ll probably never try this again. Founders, I can’t stress this enough, please brew this beer again. If I could have a keg of this stuff delivered to my apartment once a month, I would be a very happy, drunk, and fat person. UPDATE 9/19/09: largadeer got a new growler that was perfectly hermetically sealed, and it was PHENOMENAL. Huge lasting tan head with great retention and lacing. Flavor is just incredibly complex with a lot (but not too much) of maple syrup. Nice lively mouthfeel. This destroyed both KBS and regular BS in a side-by-side. This is one of the best beers I’ve ever had.