Founders Imperial Stout

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

Poured into glass, medium head, strong brown color. Beer is dark brown/black and pours thick and heavy. Scent is malty, roasty, with chocolate tones. Scents develop as temps rise. The first taste is something you cannot really prepare yourself for, you just go for it and let it tingle your whole mouth. Tastes of chocolate, caramel, malt and coffee swirl together to bring the whole mouth a treat. It’s a sipping beer, not a gulping beer! It drinks easier than it’s 10%ABV would suggest, but will warm the belly and tickle the brainstem if a drinker isn’t careful. My first Founders and if this is any indication of the other brews, I’m going to have to order cases.

Aroma’s of chocolate,coffee and roasted malts.Pours very dark with a tan head.Coffee and chocolate stand out in the flavors.Full mouthfeel with a slight alcohol finish.Very solid stout.

From my very generous Secret (summer) Santa, MIBRomeo... Thanks. Pours oily black with a yellow slightly dimminishing head. First you´re hit with nice chocolate aromas. Full and sweet with notes of chocolate, burnt malts, some coffee and prunes. Also hints of caramel. Full bodied. Medium carbonation. Chocolate finish, with some notes of coffee and alcohol. Hides the 10% well. Very nice.

Bottle. Poured much thicker than I expected - syrup. Full aroma of dark fruit and coffee. Very intense body that required some thought. Full in the mouth - a velvety feel. Coffee, bitter dark chocolate and fruit. A fine imperial stout. Very filling beer with a ton of charcacter. My full rec.

Pours a dark, dark black with a dark brown creamy/foamy/lacing/sustaining head. Probably one of the best looking Imp Stouts I have scene. Aroma of coffee, caramel, some dark fruits, hints of vanilla, molasses and chocolate. Flavor of dark roasty malts, bitter chocolate, hints of coffee, alchol very well hidden...lingering sweetness with more of a coffee aftertaste. Hints of light hop bitterness. Might try to pick up one or two more to let sit around for a while...sampled from a rather fresh bottle but still great!

This a nice imperial stout. Pours a thick syrupy black with no head. Aroma is of coffee, bitter cocoa, and dark cherries. Flavor is more of the same with hint of sweetness showing up in the finish. Dark malts really help this define the sytle. Palate is quite full with a bit of oily consistency. A great sipper or after dinner apertif. Very good.

I’m pretty new to Founders’ brews, as I have only been able to get them on trips back to the Chicago area. Between them, Bells, and a few others I’ve been checking out on RB, I may just have to do a little road trip through Michigan next summer...........2005 Bottle - Thick, black motor oilish pour with almost no head. Roasted-toffee and cream aroma. Taste has rich, roasted malts & thick cream with a bit of dark chocolate and coffee. One of the smoothest beers ever. Really good.

12oz bottle. Pitch black and pours thick. Layer of tan head. Deep plummy nose. Molassis, coffee and chocolate. Smells sweet. Thick and oily. Nice burn. Dry bitter chocolate and coffee flavor. Solid! Sweet malts but balanced by the bitter malts and dry hops. Well balanced between the malts. Transitions wonderfully. Complex and delicious. Rounded and big. This is really nice.