Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

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

In short, one of the best Imperial stouts ever brewed. Tried on tap at the brewery. Smooth blend of rich roasted malt, oak, and bourbon flavors creating a robust, stately, gentleman’s drink. Subtle flavors abound, to complex for description. Clean palate, with a great decrescendo finish.

Sampled 10/7/07 courtesy of kenb. Very woody on the finish . . . obvious bourbon-barrel presence, but I didn’t find a whole lot else. Licorice on the scent, and very fumey.

Dense black, creamy swirling tan head. Intense rich nose of used espresso grounds and black chocolate that float on a soft wave of caramel, burnt ashy wood, vanilla, and a faint bourbonesque tone. The flavor is just as nice and generally mirrors the aroma. The barrel is expertly used here for complementing, not overwhelming. Full bodied, soft carbonation, bittersweet finish. Fan-f’in-tastic! Thanks for saving me a bottle Hopscotch...

Thick, heavy, coffee- and bourbon-filled aroma. Very meaty. Great full-bodied flavor too. Nearly no head at all. Slightly astringent in the finish and highly oily. Obviously agened in bourbon barrels, but the bourbon flavor is not over-powering.

On tap at the Beer Engine in Lakewood 8-2-09. Served in a glass mug, which at $2.00 for the glass, it was quite a bargain...unlike the beer. At like $9.00, it was well worth it honestly. The aroma is rather relaxed, notes of coffee are well hidden with the vanilla and oak scents. The flavor is equally relaxed, but the coffee is still there. It has this amazing buttery-nutty taste to the coffee flavor, not the burnt coffee flavor that is often in the big stouts. It really has mellowed nicely and doesn’t come off ’hot’ at all, even for the 11.2% which snuck up on me like the Hillside Strangler.

Laphroig 10 year peatiness embedded in a deep, silky distinctly chocolate malt. I drank this over two hours while watching a movie. Each sip was lush. I’ve had bourbon, whiskey, barrel aged stouts- the thing that distinguishes this one is that usually the barrel aging provides a decidedly addiditive characteristic that can be separated out and identified. The KBS barrel aging is so intricitely woven throughout that it cannot be isolated unalloyed from the rest of this magnificiently constructed beer. Thanks to Randy at Archer Liquors.

Re-rate based on 2005-2006 version, sampled at the Michigan Winter Beer Fest in Lansing.
An incredibly rich, balanced Imperial Stout with strong roasted coffee dominating the aroma and flavor. The year-long bourbon aging left a soft, round vanilla and oak character that beautifully complements the rich coffee and understated chocolates. This was an excellent step off the heavy, sweet RIS path paved by most of the other brewers at the fest, despite the impressive nature of many of those brews. Absolutely no acidity. Smooth, balanced, beautiful. Much improved over the already good 2003 version.

Bottled version, sampled 27 March 2006. Served at room temperature. Deep opaque brown body, thin-medium ochre head. Rich aroma of roasted coffee and vanilla beans, with added emphasis of tannins from the oak barrels. A deep sniff yields some alcohol burn. Swirls of oak and vanilla infiltrate the roasted coffee and dark chocolate body, with a slight bourbony alcohol burn on the finish. Rich body, but not syrupy or heavy. I believe I’ve said all I need to say about this beer. Rating stands. Go buy some.

2003 version. On tap at Founders. Dark brown/black body, thin tan/ochre head, leaving nice lacing. Prune, plum, chocolate, and bourbon aroma, definitely aged and nicely complex. Compared to the Bourbon Stout, the bourbon in this beer was much stronger in the flavor, with the strong vanilla and oak still allowing plum and chocolate to peek through. A very good beer, but not all that similar to the Breakfast Stout; the bourbon tends to dominate the flavor and gives this beer a unique character. Rich and very tasty.
8-4-8-4-16 (4.0)

Bottle from John (JPDIPSO) Thanks! For #900 I wanted to drink something that I thought would be special, and from my favorite style. This was it. Pours very dark black. Smell has a little notes of bourbon, coffee, roasted malts, and a little bit of alcohol. Taste is rich, and not very much like bourbon (which is good since Im not a fan really). This was like drinking a thick, slightly chilled glass of coffee with some Beam in it. Simply an amazing beer, the best oak aged beer Ive had before. This reminds me of Oak Aged Yeti, just more smooth. I would love to have this for breakfast :)