Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

09 release. Big thanks to both MrChopin and Bobby91w for including a bottle of this with recent trades - never again will I say killer beers don’t come with twist-off caps! Pours a sludgy motor-oil black with a minimal burnt mocha-colored head. Big, full-bodied, roasty coffee hits your nose right away - like a filter full of just-used grounds. It’s beginning to make me think that 8pm isn’t a good time to drink this one. =) Some chocolate, tobacco and vanilla as well, with bourbon-infused oak also prominent. Crap this is a big brew - it socks you in the face and then laughs at your astonished reaction on the way down. The coffee is really prominent in the flavor, but it’s incredibly smooth and creamy, with some cacao notes as well - this actually reminds me a lot of a good tiramisu, chased with a stiff Irish coffee. For 11.2%, it hides the alcohol fairly well, but it’s still a bit boozy. I could see this being referred to as "the good stuff" by a wrinkly pipe-smoking man with a shotgun, sitting on a rocking chair on his front porch. Kudos, Founders.

What a wonderful brew! Pours opaque black into the glass, with a thinning tan ring (due to the ABV at work). The nose contains coffee, whiskey, and some dark chocolates. The flavors follow much in tow, rich, malty, with a thick, silky mouthfeel. Lots of coffee beans, bourbon (without being boozy), bitter dark chocolates, molasses, slight legumes, and licorice. Finish concentrates on the licorice and coffee notes, with nice infusions of vanilla and cloves... a nice hint of alcohol to close the effervescence. This is extremely complex, and a wonderful quaff! Great, just superb.

On draft! at Sugar Maple. Pours pitch black with a long-lasting, thick tan head. Aroma is loaded with oak and bourbon along with toasted malt, coffee, chocolate and some vanilla. Flavors start out milk chocolate followed by huge dose of oak and finishes with hop bitterness and alcohol. Smooth and thick mouthfeel. I was amazed to see this on tap, and it was even better than I remembered.

[Bottle] shared by STLWill. Pours a pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is in your face acrid coffee grounds, lots of bell pepper, dark chocolate, and surprisingly little bourbon. The flavor carries a lot more of the bourbon presence than the nose, super acrid coffee again, and lots of chocolate. If the coffee tasted less like old stale coffee grounds and more like actual coffee, this beer would be even better.

Had this bottled at Union Jack’s Pub in Boyertown, PA. I ’m a huge fan of the regular Breakfast Stout, but this was heads and shoulders above the regular version in every, single, way. It smells like, chocolate whiskey if that makes sense. You get the coffee/chocolate initial blast that the Breakfast Stout is known for, followed by the whiskey nose. The taste was, quite simply, a darker whiskey infused Breakfast Stout. Fantastic. Next year I am finding more than just 2 bottles of this, it is THAT good. IF you see it, buy it on the spot.

#100. Been saving these for the right time, might as well do it at 100. 09 bottle and will do the 08 in a couple days. Pours a pitch thick black with very thin brown creamy head. Aroma is as advertised, tons of coffee, chocolate, and bourbon, hints of vanilla, wood, and smokiness. Flavor at first had me worried, it was quite strong and almost overbearing. Next sips eased that worry and it became very delicious. Everything in the aroma came out in the taste, with the addition of dried fruits, bitter sweetness, roasted malt, with a bit of a sour/earthy finish. Definitely the most complex beer I have tried to date.

Bottle thanks to Daknole! Silky black, scant but rich brown head. Rich coffee aroma is filled with beany goodness and tons of bourbon. Extremely silky palate. Smooth coffee flavors. Some heat in the quick finish. Very nice full-on coffee beer.

Bottle: Pours pitch-black, small brownish foamy layer; sweet dried fruits, leather, liquorice and a tinge of vanilla in the complex nose; very solid bitter-sweet flavour, full bodied, but soft MF; port-wine and vanilla in the very solid bitter-sweet finish. Applause: very fine, very complex stuff................