Founders Breakfast Stout

Founders Breakfast Stout - Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout (2012)

Brewed and Bottled by Founders Brewing Co., in Grand Rapids, MI. USA. 

Winter Seasonal (Sep-Feb).

12 fl. oz. / $2.95 USD / 8.3% ABV

About: "You’ve got to love coffee to truly appreciate this phenomenal brew. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and sweetened imported chocolates, Sumatra and Kona coffee. We’re actually not sure if this is some type of coffee cake or a beer. Either way you can drink this ale with a fork. Breakfast Stout has an intense fresh roasted coffee nose topped with a cinnamon colored frothy head that seems to never fade and makes you wish breakfast could last forever."

Thoughts: Poured a dark mahogany color that formed into a deep black. The dark tan head was very slow to form but left a half a finger head atop the brew, before quickly dissipating into a puddle of foam.

Scent is going through phases... it started with coffee, cafe mocha, then the chocolate really came through strong, like rich milk chocolate and almost a little bit of dark chocolate mixed in. It's a little grainy, like chocolate Rice Crispies and there's a slight bit of booze, but it seems well hidden.

Got a smoky sting on the first gulp. It's almost hot, like it's got peppers in it or something. Weird. Chocolate adds to the overall taste but really falls back, and a smokey boozy sting with a huge dash of peppery hops get thrown at'cha. That Kona coffee really starts to pound down with a bitter flow and those bitter chocolates lessen the sweetness that a lot of stouts usually have. Getting a lot of molasses, caramel, and a toasty kind of marshmallow thing. It's got a sweetness to it, but it's about almost even with the bitterness.

Mouthfeel is like nothing I've experienced before. It's like pure silk. Amazing.

Again, tons of smoke and it feels like I just smoked after drinking this. My mouth is dry and hazy. It's a very roasted tasting brew overall. Heavy on that coffee, man. Raw shit. I wouldn't mind a bit more a syrupy oatmeal to it, but I do like mine just a tad sweeter. It's slightly burnt around the end, but all together it a heavy club over the head with strong coffee stoutness.

Funny thing happened in August of this year regarding this beer too: It was Banned in NH because the label features a baby "drinking". Hah. I thought their state motto was "Live Free or Die". A baby not being able to drink an 8.3% stout out of a cereal bowl doesn't sound to "free" to me. -_-