Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

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

On tap at Great Taste of the Midwest. Pours deep brown/black with a thin brown head. Smells like deliciosity in a glass. Coffee, oak, and generalized sweetness. The taste that jumped out was that of a very good stout: roasted malts and smooth, hidden alcohol. I’ve never tried Founders Breakfast Stout, but I’d imagine the primary difference of course is the presence here of the oak bourbon taste. The gentleman serving this beer at the Founders tent served it near room temperature, which really brought out the wide array of tastes available in this masterpiece.

Sampled side by side with the regular breakfast stout. This was much, much better. It was dessert in a snifter. Coffee, chocolate, vanilla and bourbon dominate the nose. Heavy oak, bourbon and vanilla, however it is kept in check by the chocolate, coffee and dark malts. My favorite from founders.

Bottle: Don’t know why I haven’t rated this before now. Thick black pour, with a small tan head that dissipated quickly. Aroma, bourbon, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, all are really rich. One of those beers that you can just enjoy the aroma of, just as much as the taste. Flavor, vanilla and oak, coffee, some chocolate and roasty malts. There is some woodiness to it at the tail end. A pleasent warming effect, nice and full bodied. Very smooth. This is one amazing beer.

Special thanks to Immy. Pours pitch black with dark coffee head. Nose of bourbon, coffee and nutty. Flavor is more of the same with some tobacco notes as well. Creamy mouth feel. Wow.

Bottle... Poured black with a brown head. Aroma of mocha, roasted coffee, and malt. Bourbon flavors upfront with also some oatmeal, black coffee that stayed through to the finish. It was a like an Irish Car Bomb that you could sip instead of chug. Had a quick punch of alcohol in the finish that was quickly balanced by the malt and coffee flavors.

Bottle. Pours black with a small brown head that leaves some lacing. Aroma of coffee, bourbon, roasted malt, caramel, and a hint of vanilla & oak. Taste is the same as aroma but more pronounced. Mediumium full mouthfeel that finishes dry and roasty with a moderate amount of bitterness and very well hidden alcohol. A very well done BB Stout with just the right amount of bourbon flavor and well balanced complexity.

Rating 200, yay. 12oz bottle, no date. Pours a thick dark brown, almost black with a small dark brown head. Aroma is deep coffee with bourbon undertones. Digging a little deeper I pick up on oak, alcohol, and a soil earthiness. The alcohol comes back in a big way in the taste, along with the bourbon, then the coffee. Roasted malt mild bitterness in the finish. Silky smooth, mild carbonation. Great beer.

On tap at the brewpub. This is an absolute thing of beauty. It should be noted that I usually find barrel aging beer overpowers the original in many instances. Not this time. This is one big badass stout. Pours almost pitch black with a very dark brown head. All the goodness of the original breakfast stout with slight hints of Bourbon and wood. Easily the best barrel aged version of a beer I have had to date.