While my taste buds have definitely taken me in more of a bitter route with IPAs, it used to be that porters and stouts are where I went most commonly. I’ve started mixing things up a bit – have to keep those tastebuds on their figurative toes – and recently picked up a loose bottle at the shop of the Founders Breakfast Stout.
Interestingly enough, as I’ve started exploring the darker beers again, I’m finding that many of them rely on one of my other favorite beverages – coffee – to impart some flavor into the overall profile. So, yes, if coffee is not your thing, then the Founders Breakfast Stout probably isn’t either. For everyone else, though, it’s a positive treat.
Drinking the Founders Breakfast Stout does feel like a treat. Right up front you’re hit with a sweetness, followed quickly by a chocolatey flavor. This is reinforced by the dark chocolate/coffee color in the glass, with a caramel-colored head that doesn’t look that far off (in hue) from the milk froth art you may see in a fancier coffee.
Along with the coffee and chocolate, the Founders Breakfast Stout also relies on flaked oats in the recipe, which further reinforces the “breakfast” part of the name. And sure, with a more robust mouth feel, it’s maybe more porridge-like than your regular ale (but by no means in a gross smoothie sense). At an 8.3% ABV, though, this is not one you’re going to want to try replacing breakfast with, nutritional concerns aside. This is a good one to have post-dinner, I think, almost like a dessert in and of itself. If you can have breakfast for dinner, why not have the Founders Breakfast Stout for dessert? foundersbrewing.com
Tasting Notes
- Sweet
- Chocolate
- Deep rich color
- Caramel head
- Mild coffee nose
- Robust mouth feel
Details from Founders Brewing
- DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COFFEE OATMEAL STOUT
- ABV: 8.3%
- IBUs: 60
- RateBeer Rating: 100
- Availability: Year-Round
- The coffee lover’s consummate beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and two types of coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever.
