Breakfast Stout
Founders Brewing Company

Breakfast StoutBreakfast Stout
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From:
Founders Brewing Company
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Oatmeal Stout
Ranked #2
ABV:
8.3%
Score:
100
Ranked #152
Avg:
4.51 | pDev: 9.09%
Reviews:
4,158
Ratings:
17,948
Status:
Active
Rated:
Wednesday at 12:52 PM
Added:
Jul 27, 2003
Wants:
  2,060
Gots:
  6,980
The coffee lover’s consummate beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and Sumatra and Kona coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever.

60 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Sleepy_Conscience:
Photo of Sleepy_Conscience
Reviewed by Sleepy_Conscience from Virginia

5/5  rDev +10.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Normally I don't like declaring one thing my "favorite," be it a movie, a song, a book or whatever. My tastes just vary so much from year to year and even day to day. That said, Founders Breakfast Stout is my favorite beer. Hands down. It is the beer that got me into stouts. It is the beer that got me away from that devil drink called wine. It rekindled my love affair with craft brews, coffee and even the diseased whore's mitten that is the state of Michigan, a perpetual thorn in the side of common decency and God's favorite state in the Union, my home, the Buckeye state of Ohio.

Breakfast Stout saved my life.

Well no, not really, but it is very good. Every fall my girlfriend and I call up the local liquor store every few days until they say it's in.. Then we go and buy it pretty much every time we get beer until it runs out (so like once a week). Lately we've been buying multiple four-packs at a time because it seems to get more popular and run out quicker every year. I would implore Founders to make this a year round thing, though that might take away from the "specialness" of it. Really, I'd just hope they make more next year.

So what is the actual experience like?

Ineffable.

You'll just have to go out and try it for yourself. The only things I can really say are that it's thick like crude oil with a strong-but-not-too-strong coffee flavor. It will coat your mouth and warm you heart. Honestly, it's just that good. It will open your eyes. It will change your mind, your life, your very soul. It was. It is. It will always be. It is the alpha and the omega. It was there at my first love of stouts, and it will be there at the end of my liver.

Breakfast Stout is one of those rare drinks that pleases everyone. My girlfriend and I have very different beer tastes, but we can both agree that this is the best beer human beings have yet to offer. I feel like high school me, modern me, my mom, my grandfather, my grandmother, my dad, Barack Obama and Rush Limbaugh could all love this beer.

There is no other. Thou shalt put no other beers before me (if it's in season and the bar serves it, of course).

My local bar gets a single keg of KBS a single time per year. Much to my chagrin and eternal shame, I have yet to try it because it sells out in literally two hours, which is pretty much how long it takes to drain a keg by just holding down the tap. I shit you not, this year my girlfriend and I are taking off work and camping out at the bar to ensure we are a part of that two hours. I know it sounds crazy, but you just haven't tried the dream, the vision, the spiritual experience that is Breakfast Stout. Like the crack cocaine, one taste and you'll be hooked. Just try it. Everybody's doing it.
Dec 17, 2014
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.21 by ThaKennster from Texas

Wednesday at 12:52 PM
 
Rated: 4.06 by sbradley41 from Pennsylvania

Mar 05, 2024
Photo of mbrandes62
Rated by mbrandes62 from Tennessee

5/5  rDev +10.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Omg
Mar 04, 2024
Photo of kotocar
Reviewed by kotocar from California

3.5/5  rDev -22.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
I sure was looking forward to drinking this beer because of the glowing reviews. Unfortunately this beer isn't for me -- and I love stouts and porters too! I guess I "should've known" because I am not a coffee beer fan. I don’t like coffee in my ice-cream or in my beer.

The beer itself tastes like a adjunct stout with added coffee and roasted dark chocolate. It mostly taste of molasses though. Sorta reminds me of a cup of shoefly pie in a glass. It tastes rich and hearty and probably has a equivalent of a loaf of bread in it.... but I've had much better "imperial" stouts from other brands which didn't need to adjunct and add coffee to the beer.

If you like coffee in your beer then go for it. If you want a "normal" stout then stay away.
Feb 20, 2024
Photo of paylstep
Reviewed by paylstep from Canada (ON)

3.83/5  rDev -15.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
From the tap at stout nyc in fi-di:
Balanced smoke, coffee, dark choc... Maybe the most well balanced, well proportioned beer i've ever had. Hard to fathom how balanced it is.
However, this is too carbonated for my taste, and far too bitter. I will take many an irish dry stout over this beer any day. I feel this beer has been a tad overhyped. For the price, i know it is.
Feb 14, 2024
Photo of LagerMan_US
Rated by LagerMan_US from Maine

4.78/5  rDev +6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Perfect. Drink from small glass : )
Feb 13, 2024
Photo of TurboMon_911
Reviewed by TurboMon_911 from New Jersey

4.59/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Bottled on 05/02/2023. Poured a dark chocolate color into a clear glass Singha mug with a finger high khaki colored head which receded in a minute or so, but left a fair amount of fine lacing. Aromas is heavy of chicory, chocolate and caramel with raisins and roasted malts in the background. Flavor follows nose and is coffee forward but finishes with a bitter sweet chocolaty dryness. Medium to full bodied it is easily drinkable, has no booziness or burn and goes down smooth. Have had this many time over the years in it's many different forms, (KBS,CBS) and it's always a pleasurable experience/treat.
Feb 05, 2024
 
Rated: 4.45 by oneeye from Pennsylvania

Jan 22, 2024
Photo of Saluki
Reviewed by Saluki from Florida

4.51/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Slim head, which is good to me. The look looks like a stout. Yes, it is chocolate, and a stout, but actually not over bearing or sharp. Nice full refreshing mouth feel. Really puts the local craft guys, for one third the price, here any way, to shame. This one is a winner if you like the style. KBS still gets the nod.
Jan 16, 2024
Photo of mothmanscott
Reviewed by mothmanscott from Georgia

4.51/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Pours a deep black producing a 1.5 fingers of foamy, moderately lasting mocha head that leaves of foamy, finely bubbled, moderately lasting, mocha head which recedes to a thin collar ring and surface cap, leaving behind wisps and streaks of lace. When you get to the bottom of the glass you can see that it is clear with a brownish burgundy color. Aroma is coffee heavy, chocolate, burnt pumpernickel, caramel, molasses and a hint of dark fruit.Taste is sweeter than the nose indicates: semisweet roast, bitter cocoa, coffee, toffee, burnt bread and dark fruit. The coffee is much less intense than in the nose. The roast is present throughout the sip intensifying in the finish it dominates the cocoa, toasty, moderately bitter aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied with low carbonation. It producers a fine peppery prickle in the finish, is lightly creamy, smooth and a pleasure to drink.
Jan 13, 2024
 
Rated: 3.63 by SeanP99 from North Carolina

Jan 11, 2024
 
Rated: 4.4 by rexdeopp from Texas

Jan 09, 2024
Photo of JasonColemanLasVegas
Reviewed by JasonColemanLasVegas from Nevada

4.43/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Appearance: Dark Brown in color, opaque, small thick espresso brown head with low retention.
Nose: big coffee followed by botter chocolate malt, dark fruit, fig and prune and chocate covered raisin, little bit of molasses, little bit of green bell pepper from the coffee.
Palate: low carbonation, high alcohol, toasty espresso, coffee, bakers chocolate, rich baked bread crust and dark fruity esters, prune and dark raisin and brown sugar. Medium bitterness, some coming from the roast, finishes off dry with lingering coffee. Good quality!!
Dec 16, 2023
Photo of BigMac59
Reviewed by BigMac59 from Texas

4.3/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Beautiful head with lots of lacing.
Nose is chocolate and coffee
Wonderful taste, rich and decadent. Slightly more bitter than a lot of stouts.
Coffee and chocolate are the predominant tastes.
High on carbonation.
Overall very good!
Dec 09, 2023
Photo of Tom-o-Bedlam
Reviewed by Tom-o-Bedlam from Texas

4.71/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Coffee, chocolate, and tobacco. Really spectacular taste, perfectly balanced. Coffee on the nose, then the taste is dark chocolate and Java with notes of tobacco on the back end. An all time great stout.

Not getting much oats, if any. Seems odd to call this an oatmeal stout.
Dec 02, 2023
 
Rated: 4.46 by Nyoder

Nov 25, 2023
Photo of nizzle8287
Reviewed by nizzle8287 from Texas

4.5/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Kinda surprised that an adjunct stout has made it into the number 2 spot in the "Oatmeal stout" class.
Anyway, poured into a pint glass at about 45f. Pours pretty extremely dark brown to black, with a khaki head that lasts for a minute or two until it recedes to a thin film and a ring that leaves nice lacing.
Smells of coffee and baker's cocoa.
Taste is malty chocolate forward that is dry and then the coffee hits and lingers there, ending it sort of an ashy smoky finish that resembles raw baking cocoa mixed with coffee grounds. Not sure where the "Oatmeal" in this oatmeal stout is supposed to have a time-slot... Kinda overwhelming on the coffee.
Mouthfeel has medium carbonation, but lacks the smoothness that some other stouts have.
Overall, a medium heavy beer that is very coffee forward, and I think even has a bit of caffeine in it, which I don't care too much for unless I am to wake up and drink it every morning, which I'll admit that it's Thanksgiving today and I'm staying home alone, so this beer is being served for breakfast.
Pretty good brew, but I won't be buying this one all the time.. too much adjunct flavors that take it too far away from the category of simple "Oatmeal Stout."
Nov 23, 2023
 
Rated: 4.68 by sewerchewer from New York

Nov 05, 2023
 
Rated: 4.43 by vabeerguy from Virginia

Nov 02, 2023
Breakfast Stout from Founders Brewing Company
Beer rating: 100 out of 100 with 17948 ratings