Breakfast Stout
Founders Brewing Company

A - pours midnight black with an espresso-like foamy head.

S - rich coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and roasted nuts. Amazing!

T - unbelievably complex; sweet cocoa, piney spice, roasted coffee, and the warmth from 8.3% A.B.V.

M - smooth and silky; not the least bit "heavy." Perfect for the style.

Drinkability - it will take a great amount of self-discipline to cellar this stout. I'd recommend a name change--"Anytime Stout." Thanks Founders!

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a snifter.

Deep mahogany beer with fluffy tan head that piles high and leaved plenty of lacing. Very attractive. Strong coffee and bitter dark chocolate on the nose, with typical stoout aromas of roasted grain at a lower level. Just a hint of ale yeast fruitiness in the nose. More aromatics and depth emerge as the beer warms. Deep, rich coffee flavors are highlighted, along with chocolate and burnt grains. Medium body and overall dry finish with just a light, mouthcoating residual sweetness. Low carbonation. Hops bitterness appears relatively moderate, but might be quite high in IBUs and just muted by all the other strong sensations. Alcohol level is lightly warming; seems to match the moderate advertised ABV.

The coffee flavors here are delicious, and the overall intense level of flavor and aroma is impressive given the relatively moderate ABV and drinkability.

 

 

 

Copenhagen 17/4 2016. 35,5 cl bottle from Meny, Østerfælled Torv, Kbh. Ø. Cute infant happily gobbling his breakfast (some kind of goop I presume) on the label.

Pours opaque dark dark brown with a light beige head. Head settles as a 1 cm thick creamy layer of foam covering the surface of the beer. Lacing on the side of the glass.

Aroma is intense with a sweet malty odor mingling with a gentle, bitter scent of coffee. Licorice, black coffee and roasted malts.

Carbonation is kinda soft and thick oily palate. Viscous, almost flat texture.

Flavor is nicely balanced between discrete sweetness and coffee bitterness. The bitterness is pronounced in the aftertaste.

I would not serve this to my infant with a spoon - it holds an ABV of 8,3 % and it would be dreadful to waste this fine stout on the little gobbler.

 

12 oz. bottle pours an opaque dark brown with modest but lasting tan head that leaves some lacing. Aroma has lots roasted malts, coffee, some chocolate, and hints of licorice. Taste is slightly sweet with alcohol warming and some bitterness in the finish. Body is full without too much carbonation. Still an excellent stout, although I remember being even more wowed by this one 13 years ago the first time I tried one, while staring at the now banished picture of a happy toddler consuming breakfast porridge.

Light sweet aroma. Nice rich dark color. Excellent blend of coffee and chocolate. Moderate carbonation that enhances the caramel hints of roasted malt. It has a slight zest at first sip that smooths to a robust well rounded flavor. This is an enjoyable drink and perhaps one of the finest domestic stouts around. If you like stouts, bocks, and darks, this is one you simply should be confident trying. Just special.

 

 

Poured from a bottle into a tulip. Coffee and cocoa forward, creamy, malty, cinnamon. Thick and rich mouthfeel with a lingering aftertaste, but not unpleasantly sticky. Absolutely delicious. I do think it earns its exceptional rating.

 

Let me just say thank you founders. What an awesome beer. This is what I consider a special occasion beer. I highly recommend it if you are a stout drinker or just a beer lover who likes to try as many different beers as you can. I think you’ll find this an excellent choice. Cheers!

 

Aggressive chocolate stout with a lot of bite. Right off the bat its bitter, has some sting and obviously high ABV. The more I drink the more it grows on me and more of the malty, roasty flavors are noticeable but wow at the start it can be aggressive. At higher temps it gets creamier and the feel is way better so I'd definitely recommend not overly chilling it.

AWESOME!

Way back when I first had this in 2015 I gave it a 5-ball all around for great palate heft, a huge java/choco/malty flavor & a lovely lingering, mouthcoating aftertaste. In the past few years however, it's still good but like almost all of Founders offerings nowadays, just doesn't seem to have that same punchy flavor or mouthfeel?