Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

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

Bottle, courtesy Gillard. Pours a dark brown color, and very generous lacing on the glass, with a creamy small head. Giant roasted coffee in the nose, which flows perfectly with bourbon, and lots of smoke. Flavor is divine. Caramel, toffee, chocolate, roasted coffee, big malty body, vanilla, bourbon....wow. Delicious. Extremely drinkable and has a sharp bitterness. Awesome.

What better way to top off Derby Day 2008 than with a KBS. Pours oil slick black with a dense one-finger brown head that dissipates almost immediately leaving very good lacing. Roasted coffee dominates the nose with a definite bourbon aroma that is underpinned by a faint malt aroma with a vanilla and dark fruit sweetness (very faint). Wow, the taste is massive! It starts with a huge roasted/burnt coffee flavor with a heavy dose of chocolately malts, bourbon and wood. Then there is all kind of other things bouncing around the taste buds - caramel, dark fruits, vanilla - tough to identify all of it. Bitterness of the coffee taste lingers for...days. Medium body yet very creamy and smooth mouthfeel. Despite the massive nature of this brew, I found it tough to put down. This is, without a doubt, one of the most unique beers I have tasted and I hope to get my hands on some more of it.

Black, almost no tan head. Smells of used cheap coffee grounds, alcohol, watered down bourbon and slightly vegetal. Tastes of paper bag, dark fruit juice , again bad coffee, a little vanilla, some nuts, and an oaky finish. Slightly hoppy, nothing to be ecstatic about. Not much alcohol in taste, but burns going down. Mouth feel is pretty good. I’ve had a couple of bottles, one was kinda watery, one was a little thicker.

Draft at founders. Phenominal as i remember it when i had it in July 07 at founders old location. Black Beer, tan head, diminished coffee and moderate amount of bourbon. Amazing. Bottle version is much less impressive though. Drinking this again, right now. I love this beer!

12 oz. bottle - drank this side by side with the regular version; the KBS comes off much darker (if possible) in the pour with darker brown head; bourbon is obvious and overpowers the chocolate and coffee aromas from the BS; more roasted malts and nuts come out though; you can feel the bourbon as it warms the back of your throat and it drinks very smooth; I miss the chocolaty flavors and texture of the BS and maybe just a little much on the bourbon for my palate; the KBS does have a thicker and more chewy texture with an even drier finish; as with the BS, the KBS keeps getting better and better through the glass and I’m glad I have a few more to enjoy over time (thanks to TMC!!)

sampled at DLD, thanks to the West Virginia crew that traveled 11 hours to bring me beer... err, to get Dark Lord that is - Pours black with a thin tan head. The aroma is of dark roast malt, coffee, and lots of bourbon. Bourbon and coffee take front and center in the flavor, especially the bourbon. If there’s any flaw it may be that they went just a touch heavy on the bourbon, but it’s really freaking good anyway. Full bodied and still very drinkable for a big, high abv beer, I really enjoyed it.

Bottle, thanks to brentfeesh. Pours ink black with small dark tan head. The aroma is unapologetic bourbon at first, enough to burn my sinuses; after a few sniffs I then get strong coffee and fudge notes, with some weaker undertones of vanilla, raisin, and tobacco. The flavor is strong oak, bourbon, and coffee. Not subtle at all. There is a little bit of raisin and plum fruitiness, and then the same cigar tobacco note I got in the nose. A little bit of vanilla peeks through with a little bit of piney bitterness toward the end, and the finish is of bitter chocolate. Over the top, but very good.

A- Pours a nice black color letting no light pass through with a small, mocha head. S- Smell has a whole lot going on. Strong coffee, bourbon notes, a sort of syrupy sweetness, roasted malt. T- Starts off with sweet dark fruit notes and moves into a strong but balanced bourbon taste which lightens into coffee that lasts quite a while. M- Thick and creamy with appropriate carbonation. D- This is a sipper but honestly it is the best of the style that I have experienced. I don’t put much stock in Imperial stouts but if you are going to try one, this is the one to try.