Founders Imperial Stout

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

Black pour with a bit of tan head...Light coffee aroma...Intense hop and burnt roasted malt flavors...Bitter finish...Thick and rich...Bitterness detracts from the malty chocolate goodness...Lay off the hops, this ain’t a DIPA...Fair rating due to my mouth feeling like I just scarfed down raw ground coffee...

A big beer with the dark, very heavy typical, almost chemical founders stout character wich i quite like actually. Its black, it has a viscous, slick mouthfeel. The flavours are heavy, chocolate, coffe, some caramel and hops. The finish is warming with a big roasted character blending nicely with the hop bitterness. Suprisingly easy to drink and perhaps a bit too straightforward.

12 oz bottle into a Duvel tullip. Pours completely black with a nice brownish tan head. Smells like coffee and alcohol. Taste is very rich and warm. Tons of complexity and depth, yet well balanced. So many flavors its hard to separate them. Esspresso roast coffee with a bit of chocolate and alcohol and a hint of smokiness. Rich creamy mouth feel. Another great stout from Founders. This brewery fast becoming a favorite of mine.

Originally reviewed 1/16/2009...from 12 oz. into a Duvel tulip... Pours so dark there’s actually a purplish-black currant hue to what otherwise looks split down the middle between a triple espresso shot and spent 40 weight. Cinnamon-brown sugar head is about 1/2 finger and goes rather quickly with moderate lacing. Carbonation provides sweet alcohol burn at first. Then the incredibly huge chocolate (and many others, apparently) malts take over. Big coffee and dark chocolate tones with woody, piney hop presence and slight sweetness. Oooh, the complexity of it all. This has a great balance between the huge dryness of all this roasted malt, a decent alcohol wallop (sweet but clean) and the stealth grass and pine hoppiness. I’d be interested to see how it mellows with age. Give this one some warmth to calm down the slight alcohol burn. If the alcohol hits anywhere it’s on the palate feel. The slight burn is mitigated by huge malt and hop presence. Finish is long and full. This is best enjoyed at cellar/room temperative and by sipping and savoring. Having said that, it drinks very easily for its weight class.

Rich chocolaty and hops aroma. Sweet with some citrus and dried fruit notes. Very dark brown body with thickish dark tan head with a fine head. Flavor is sweet and rich with notes of coffee, dark chocolate, oatmeal, rye bread, toffee and caramel and some vanilla and a light alcohol on the finish. Palate is quite rich and creamy with a good long bitter duration with a load of sweetness along for the ride. Quite good and very drinkable. Rich and hearty but not syrupy. Well done.

Another thank you to Adrian for this. I have been excited about seeing how Founders would do this style, and I was not disappointed. Germanic looking eagle on the label. Dark pour and a full head, with a little orange color in it. Aroma is sweet and rich, a little yeast and alcohol, but mostly honey malt sweetness. The flavor is strong. Yup, strong. The mouthfeel is smooth and thick. I tasted espresso coffee and dark chocolate, followed by sharp, palate cleaning hops. Unfortunately, the boldness borders on harshness, but this is as strong and impressive as I had hoped for. It reminds me of Victory’s Storm King. Another excellent brew from this very reliable brewery.

A dark brown almost black pour with little to no head. Aroma and flavor are dark coffee and chocolate. Palate is full bodied with nice carbonation. A very special beer.

12oz bottle. Black with a brown head. Love it when a stout pulls off a properly dark head. Malty and roasty aroma with caramel, chocolate, licorice, and some coffee. The flavor struck me mostly as smokey and almost burnt, with a lot of dark chocolate. Not a lot of hop flavor going on, but a good amount of bitterness to balance out the huge malt backbone. Full bodied with smooth, lower carbonation. All I could think of was how this seemed super typical for a bigger American impy, but was still really good. Not really on the hoppy or sweet, malty side of things, but strikes a good balance.