Founders Imperial Stout

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

bottle. Aroma: Big coffee aroma with some chocolate notes. Lots of roastiness, dark fruit, some light alcohol, and a touch of smoke. Appearance: Dark, oily black in the pour. Head was dark tan, creamy, and huge. Had to wait several minutes for the foam to die down. Fair lacing. Flavor: Sweet roasted malt, rich coffee, dark chocolate, cherries. Alcohol is well hidden, but more noticeable as it warms. Palate: Full bodied and slick on the tongue. Moderate carbonation. Finish is slightly sweet. Small alcohol warming in back of mouth. Overall: A good, solid Imperial Stout. Great aroma, great flavor, great mouthfeel.

Very Dark. Strong flavor of chocolate and coffee - slight hint of smokiness. allch content is present up front, but well blended. carbonation gives it a little of a tangy feel -- full bodied and balanced.

Black as hell with a decent head. Coffee and chocolate aroma with a little hops. For 10%, this has no alcohol bite...big fan. BIg, but not over the top, roasted malt and chocolate with a bit of espresso. Lovely.

Poured just like motor oil. 0 head 0 lacing and thick dark. Aroma was of coffee some roast and chocolate. Flavor was much the same but was sweet to much for my liking. Good beer.

Poured a dark deep brown to black color with lots of motor oil thickness, near nil head and no lacing. The dark color won me over for appearance, though, thick motor oil, all black, even when held to light. The aroma was strong coffee, light roast, some chocolate underneath. The flavor followed suit, but the only knock was a bit too much sweetness, could have used a bit more hops balance to make it outstanding. Otherwise, very fine, great syrupy mouthfeel with velvety texture. I enjoyed this one.

Bottle: Pours to a totally opaque dark black with hints of brown at the very edges towards the top of the body. Tiny, almost nonexistent brown head forms atop the beer that quickly fades to a small ring around the glass. The aroma is strong roasted barley & prunes at first, then shows light roasted coffee, honey, cocoa bean, very light vanilla, and roasted chocolate. The initial taste hits the palate with multiple sensations: a short burst of carbonation, a short burst of bitter hops, a barely perceptable alcohol burn in the nose (though not in the mouth), and then it quickly turns to the dark roasted flavors. Dark roasted barley, burnt chocolate, chewy caramel, prunes, figs, vanilla bean, cocoa, and a bit of sticky, resinous citrus hops come through sometimes. Finishes with bitterness from both the hops and dark roasted malts, flavors of chalky roasted coffee and extended roasted barley. Full bodied, medium carbonated, sticky & silky on the palate, this one does a nice job of hiding the 10% abv.

Pours a dark black color that has a thick, dark tan head that is very frothy. Abundant amount of lacing. Aroma is very malty with chocolate, dark fruit and a bit of coffee. Taste doesn’t have as much malt as the aroma leads you to believe but it’s there. This is a very sweet stout with a bit of choclate, dark fruit and cherry. and a pleasant amount of coffee in the finish. Alcohol is present but not harsh.

Bottle. I think it’s time to take a break from imperial stouts. They’re starting to blend together. This one is a pretty run of mill impy. Very smooth, very alcohol-y, very malty and very sweet. It has the rum alcohol burn in the nose, followed by a cloying sweetness. Sweet and alcohol saturated in the mouth. Too much so, if you ask me. Not as roasty or bitter as I’d like. It’s like a rum-soaked chocolate covered cherry.