Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

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

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.

One of 5 top 50 beers shared at the most recent Columbus tasting! Thanks Dan. Light bourbon and coffee aroma comes from a black body with a beige head. Medium palate was a little thinner than I had hoped for. Bitter roasted coffee up front with just a small hint of bourbon as well. There is a tinge of alcohol in the finish. Solid.

Re-rate: The coffee is too overpowering and dominate in this brew and has caused me to lower my original rating. Average at best, actually.

Black & oily with very small head. Minimal carbonation. Almost pure coffee aroma. Coffee and chocolate up front in the naste with nutty bourbon coming on very subltle. Slight bitter finish, but the malt dominates the whole way through. Love it.

Poured a thick black with a small semi-creamy brown head. Rich and complex aroma of lightly buttery bourbon, coffee and half and half, chocolate, fruits, and a bit of alcohol. A stoutish aroma with the depth of one from a good barley wine. Taste, for me, is comparatively disappointing. Lots of heavy alcohol and bittering hops dominate the palate, overshadowing virtually everything. If I strain, I maybe could find some roasted coffee and buttery bourbon, but it would probably be more confirmation bias than anything else. If I were to close my eyes, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this and a similarly over-the-top bitter and alcoholic barley wine or double IPA. Normally this happens when I drink an imperial stout too cold, but that is hardly the case here. I decanted it at room temperature in a brandy snifter, and it still tastes like this. My only regret is that my fair and honest score, though below this beer’s average, doesn’t quite articulate my disappointment with this beer.

(Bottle, a gift from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=2 target=blank>OhioDad, thanks Scott!, cellared for 1 year) Didn’t get much complexity from this one...Pours very very dark brown with a thin tan head that recedes to a light film and ring around edges. Aroma of bourbon, oak, char and maybe molasses. Mouthfeel sort of thick but pretty smooth, a little oily. Lightly sticky. Nice fine rings of lacing. Leaves a syrupy coating inside of glass. Taste is mostly bourbon, oak and char - surprisingly rather mild-flavored and little complexity. Also surprisingly not hot at all. The char taste lingers for awhile as an aftertaste. Maybe this is better not cellared. Left me wishing there was a little more to it.

Sept. 2007 - Delicious blend of coffee, bourbon, oatmeal and chocolate. The regular Breakfast Stout is outstanding and the bourbon aging actually complemented and enhanced the flavor rather than overpowering it. Excellent. Thanks to eaglefan538 for sharing. Now to find more.... April 2008 - Second tasting, not as impressed. A lot of bourbon overwhelms most of the other flavors. Still good, but bumped down from the 4.6 original rating.

Rating #1055
This allusive beer poured an almost opaque black body, creamy and rich, the head also sits a dark khaki, tall and sturdy. The aroma is bold with suggestions of vanilla, chocolate and no way of omitting that heavy handed pour of bourbon. The flavor brings more of the same, with some coffee bitterness and hints of an oaky vinous character. The palate is superb… chewy and velvety smooth, absolutely wonderful!
However in the end, I’m left thinking that the Bluegrass State should do what they do best, race horses and serve up whisky drinks like old-fashioneds, mint juleps, or go bold and drink it straight up, but bourbon in my stout… That’s just not my thing!

birthday bottle thanks to mar. poured black with a copper head and some nice lace. aroma was very upfront with coffee and chocolate then followed by subtle hints of bourbon and vanilla. flavor was lots of chocolate, bourbon, dark fruits, licourice, coffee, and dark roast. body was thick with low carbonation. very good imp stout and one heck of a good beer. thanks mar.