Noob question about stouts

Breakfast stouts will be brewed with oats but also coffee.

 

Breakfast stout is an actual beer made my Founder's. They also make a Kentucky Breakfast Stout. They aren't their own style of beer. They are both imperial stouts. There are also some other breakfast branded type stouts but they aren't a certain style, usually they are made with coffee and chocolate though.

 

The most common thing would be that "breakfast" stouts contain coffee and oats. Specifically, Founders makes Founders Breakfast Stout and a couple variations on that. KBS or Kentucky Breakfast Stout is an oatmeal coffee stout aged in bourbon barrels, and CBS or Canadian Breakfast Stout is an oatmeal coffee stout aged in bourbon barrels that then were used to age maple syrup.

 

I think breakfast stouts more often will have coffee as the main adjunct flavor more so than oatmeal, although I've seen some beers with both. If oatmeal is the only adjunct that is noted, then you probably have an oatmeal stout. Founders has a beer called Breakfast Stout, but I don't think that name is exclusive to that brewery.

 

And of course, you must only drink a breakfast stout for breakfast. Sorry, those are the rules.

 

As a few people have pointed out, 'breakfast stout' really isn't a style of stout, but is a particular stout originally brewed by Founders and since copied by other places. Generally, 'breakfast stout' has oatmeal, coffee, chocolate, or other things people associate with you standard American breakfast.

The more substantial difference in stouts come between the gradations in ABV, mouthfeel, etc. between several of the real 'styles' of stout:

Irish Dry Stout - very light, lowest ABV (<5.5%), soft roastiness, typically served on nitro in bars and often underrated on BA due to its simplicity, sessionable (e.g. Guinness Draught, Murphy's)

Export Stout - bolder in flavor and higher in ABV (6-8%) than Irish Dry but not as intense as an imperial stout (e.g. Guinness Export Stout)

Milk/Sweet Stout - brewed with lactose, the sugar found in milk, which gives it a soft, somewhat creamy, milkshake-like sweetness (e.g. Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro)

Oatmeal Stout - brewed with oatmeal, mid-level ABVs (4-6%) which adds depth of body and silky smoothness to the palate, increases body without adding malty flavors (e.g. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout)

Imperial Stout - the biggest of the stouts, typically the highest in ABV (9-12+%) and with what some might describe as having the 'boldest' flavor, often overrated for this reason (e.g. Founders Imperial Stout)

With this in mind, many 'breakfast stouts' are some combination of qualities of the oatmeal, milk, and imperial stouts.

 

American stouts, like other "American" named styles will feature hops more than other variations of that style.

 

Yes, stouts are the same as porters. Oh wait, I was expecting you to ask a different question.

While all styles are pretty arbitrary, I haven't heard "Breakfast Stout" much as a style. That said, there are a number of stouts brewed with either coffee or oats, both of which are often associated with breakfast. If I were you, I would take a look at the descriptions that beeradvocate provides for both American Stout and Oatmeal Stout (which falls under the "English Ales" section of the beer-styles on this website).

American Stout
"Inspired from English & Irish Stouts, the American Stout is the ingenuous creation from that. Thankfully with lots of innovation and originality American brewers have taken this style to a new level. Whether it is highly hopping the brew or adding coffee or chocolate to complement the roasted flavors associated with this style. Some are even barrel aged in Bourbon or whiskey barrels. The hop bitterness range is quite wide but most are balanced. Many are just easy drinking session stouts as well."

Oatmeal Stout
"These are generally medium to full bodied stouts that have an unreal smoothness to them from the addition of oats to the mash. The oats not only add a lot of smoothness to the mouth feel but give a touch of sweetness that is unlike any other type of stout. Both levels of roasted flavor and hop character will vary."

I would also look at the Imperial Stout description here on BA. Since so many American brewers do big stouts with high ABV and incorporate coffee, oatmeal and a number of other ingredients, it's good to get a sense of these brews too.

Imperial Stout
"The American Double Stout gets some of it inspiration from the Russian Imperial Stout. Many of these are barrel aged, mostly in bourbon / whiskey barrels, while some are infused with coffee or chocolate. Alcohol ranges vary, but tend to be quite big, and bigger than traditional Russian Imperial Stouts. Most tend to have cleaner alcohol flavors, higher hop levels, and more residual sweetness. Very full-bodied with rich roasted flavors far surpassing normal stouts."

Of course, what "style" a beer is considered has many interpretations. So take this all with a grain of salt.

Also, for what it's worth, stouts of any variety seem to be the beers I enjoy most in the rare event that I'm having a beer with breakfast.

 

What????? Stout the same as Porter....

That is like saying Rohde Island is the same as Florida, IPA is the same as AIPA or dogs are the same as cats....

 

Other way round. Breakfast Stouts which are not an actual style are Oatmeal Stouts due to the inclusion of oatmeal. Neither are American Stout which is its own thing altogether.

 

I would say that there is a continuum between stouts and porters and where one stops and the other starts depends on the brewer's marketing department.

 

Except that the things you said aren't true.

 

Okay that is an opinion I would say it is a stretch. Here is another stretch

Rohde Island and Florida are both in the USA, so same thing... dogs and Cats are both mammals so again same thing .... or to put it another way obviously there is a continuum...

Okay so I'm being very tongue in cheek here
My point is this... there may be some similarities but the differences are greater. As for marketing screw that when did marketing ever tell the truth?

 

well done on following point one of my post now take the next step and join the real world...

 

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Regardless, my understanding is that stouts and porters are the same beer. A brewer can choose to call it either a stout or a porter. With that said, brewers these days tend to label the higher abv, thicker mouthfeel, and/or barrel aged brews as stouts; while the lower abv, thinner mouthfeel brews get labeled as porters. This trend leads to the idea that stouts and porters are vastly different. However, at the end of the day, they are really both the same. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout could just as easily be called Goose Island Bourbon County Porter. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter could just as easily be Edmund Fitzgerald Stout. So often times on these message boards people ask about the difference between stouts and porters, hence the joke in my initial response.

 

I'm just having some cheeky fun (Northern Irish sense of humor)

I do still disagree that they are the same... but I will concede that there are some similarities (at times) but the overall result is very different. I personally think there is much more to it than ABV and mouth feel and I recon the brewers would agree (as does the beer style section of this site)... so to say that is a slight slap in the face to the original brewers (IMO)

But hey who really cares???? There are more important questions in the world like why do people still drink Guinness when they could be drinking Belfast Black?

Or Dublin Porter.... Why? Just fecking why? (Now that really is a porter that is no different than the Stout by the same crowd)

 

I'd think that the coffee is the critical ingredient as there are Oatmeal stouts out there that are not called Breakfast Stouts.