Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

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

2009 bottle. Pours jet black. Very aggressive pour has very small amount of brown head. Head quickly disapates with no lace. Aroma STRONG of coffee. Also pick up oak, bourbon, roasted malt, alcohol, yeast. Slight hint of chocolate. Flavor instantly strong with coffee. Much more bourbon taste then aroma. Oak flavor is toned down in the back ground. Flavor gets MUCH better as it rests and warms. Full mouth feel. Lightly coats, but nowhere near what other imps do. Lighty carbonated to perfection.

Poured very black, dark chocolate, coffee, wood, vanilla, roasted malts, little bourbon.

Bottle thanks to Daknole poured a nearly opaque black with a lingering ring of brown foam. Aromas of bitter chocolate, coffee, vanilla, roasted malt,m light oak and light bourbon. Palate was medium bodied and smooth with a warming finish. Flavors of bitter chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, light vanilla, light oak and a hint of bourbon with a smooth warming lingering roasty chocolaty finish. A very tasty Impy Stout but I like a little more Bourbon flavor in my Bourbon Barrel Stouts.

Had this on tap at the Founders tap room. It was dark and late at night so I could not fully evaluate color or head. Served in a snifter at proper temperature and it had a great aroma with the hints of Bourbon that mix nicely with chocolate and roasts. Flavor was excellent with subtle bourbon, a bit of chocolate, some curants and roasted malts but my current standard for an Imperial Stout is the Goose Island Bourbon County stout and though this is excellent, falls a little short of the Goose Island. Excellent beer.

12 oz bottle 2009 vintage courtesy of either Binnys South Loop or Sam’s South Loop (Chicago, IL). Poured into a tulip, a pitch black thick viscous pour with small dark brown head that laces some, never dies completely. Aromas take a touch of smoke and oak, vanilla and chocolate mix liberally with bourbon, bitter roasted malts, and some soy sauce. Pretty good, just a little surprising. After warming a bit, some good sweetness comes through, syrupy and similar to the Breakfast Stout. Good ash, coffee, and roast going on. Initial is thick, putting on a good heavy body, warmth as it flows down the throat. Good oak, dryness, and vanilla mix with ash, assertive roasted malts, some lighter chocolate in there as coffee bitterness takes some of the more prominent sweet/bitter clash. This brew takes on large roast and coffee bitterness further into the body, much lighter on bourbon than I would have expected, until some notes of vanilla and oak peek through. Surprisingly, for 11.2%, this is fairly quaffable. Bitterness, roast, coffee, and touch of smokiness. The bourbon is less noticeable than other barrel aged brews, a tad light for me even. This is pretty good, but a little light on the palate and in body for the style. Cheers to it! EDIT: This beer improved in body and palate significantly after it warmed, flavors were spot on. Rerate.

As a huge fan of the Breakfast Stout, the KBS was a must try. It really is a whole different beer from the bourbon, but to me it drank like a perfectly BA dark chocolate milkshake. Absolutely fantastic!

12 oz. bottle (2009) in a snifter. Rating beer is a curious affair- so much is dependent upon one’s mood, general mindset and other extraneous factors that invariably have nothing to do with the beer in question. I have variously rated beers when I have been stuffed up, pleasantly tired, hot and bothered and philosophically relaxed. That I was in the perfect mood to appreciate a beer as well done as the KBS was perhaps something to be truly thankful for- at the end of a long day, having worked out, read a tremendous amount and finished up a number of things on my to-do list, the KBS presented the ideal nightcap. Onwards to the beer...it pours a glutinous black w/ a sizzling tan head that rapidly diminishes into some minimal lacing; aroma has the characteristically incredible three-coffee profile of the regular Breakfast Stout- the sheer richness and depth of the coffee aroma cannot be expressed in mere words. It is complemented nicely by vanilla (from the Oak I suspect) and Bourbon notes, along w/ hints of the other Breakfast Stout aromas, albeit to a lesser degree; flavor is sweet and malty w/ stronger chocolate than in the aroma, more of that coffee and burnt sugar...ends on the coffee note w/ a bourbon burn towards the back of one’s throat. Seems thinner in the body than it actually is, due to its Bourbon-y nature. A lovely experience, truly.

This is delicious! So many flavors, nice and roasty. You can really taste the vanilla. A man’s man’s beer