Founders Imperial Stout

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

12 oz bottle. A rapid pours ellicits a small tan head on this black beer. Solid dark fruit, chocolate, and coffee aromas, with molasses and anise also making their presence known. Flavor is very akin to a dark, bitter chocolate, with tiny flavors of coffee and red grape contributing. After a bit, the coffee begins to take over a bit from the chocolate and brings in a bit more of a creamy palate. An excellent job from Founders yet again.

Pours black tar with small eddying cream head, and reddish undertones. Nose is light but extraordinary, there is some sharp malty aroma with a smooth dark fruits and a little bit of blueberry. Sharp bite of bitter hops immediately with some dark roast coffee going off into a long alcohol laden finish. The description saying "the ultimate winder warmer" is an understatement.

Bottle. Pours a thick black, with a very thin brown head. Wonderful aroma of coffee, alcohol, chocolate and dark fruits. The flavor, however, doesn’t quite live up. Complex malts and biting alcohol, with an earthy and slightly smoky finish. A good beer, certainly, but still disappointing in comparison with the phenomenal Breakfast Stout.

black as night. gorgeous head. coffee aroma. chocolate coffee taste. thick n creamy. good stuff

12 oz bottle courtesy of noblesquirrel. Pours a viscous opaque black with an ample tan head that had good retention. The aroma is rich with dark fruits, coffee and chocolate. The flavor is biter and earthy with dark chocolates, coffee and roasted malts. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy. The finish is long and biter. Overall: A superb IRS, I really gotta visit this brewery someday. Thanks Brian.

Worth the hassle of finding.Pours a rich black with a dark tannish red red. Notes of coffee, roasted malt, orange rind, and some earthy hops are present in aroma as well as flavor. Chocolate is definitely shown in this as well, a smooth creamy mouthfeel, with a bit of a funky bittersweet chocolate finish as it warms. Fantastic imperial.

1/23/2009: Founder’s Imperial Stout has the same dark chocolate brown to near black appearance as the Founder’s Porter. It also has a tan to brown head that slowly fades away. The aroma and flavor, however, are definitely stronger. The aroma is rich, deep, and complex. Dark and Belgian chocolates are blended smoothly together with heavily caramelized and roasted malt, coffee and a splash of cream. The flavor is deeply malty with some residual caramelized sugars paired with roasted coffee and char. Again, dark, bitter chocolate is quite evident. Smooth, warming alcohol peeks out through the earthy, grassy bitter finish. The bitterness is definitely high and provides a bite, especially in the finish and aftertaste. This beer has a medium-full body with a smooth and milky texture on the palate. At this point, this young brew is still fairly drinkable, but I bet that a year or two of age would do wonders for this beer. It seems a bit too green and slightly on the hot side right now to truly enjoy and call excellent.

12 fl. oz. short twist-off bottle (90 IBU’s, 10.5% Alc. by Vol.) from Tmoney99. Thanks again Tom! Rating #457 for this beer.

Pitch black in colour, large deep brown head. Slightly clear at bottom, around 95% opaque. Aroma of cherries, milk, coffee, chocolate and roasted malt. Full-bodied; Lactic tastes up front quickly followed by deep chocolate and roasted malt-then bitter coffee follows. Aftertaste is deep and mellow - subtle chocolate, cherries and molasses. Overall, a damn good Imperial Stout, definitely worth trying if you can find it. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased at Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on 22-May-2005.