Founders Brewing Co. Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2009 Release
I don’t remember when I first learned about Founders Brewing Company’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout, but I suspect it was shortly after I first tried their Breakfast Stout. I do know that it was well after last year’s release, and so I had no opportunity to taste it until I attended last February’s Extreme Beer Fest, and I’ll never forget the enthusiasm (both mine and others’) that surrounded the moment when the keg of KBS was tapped.
Founders had posted a schedule of when certain beers were going to be tapped during the session, and the KBS was on the schedule for 4:00pm, just before the first session was scheduled to end at 4:30. We found this out when we hustled over to the Founders table as our first stop of the day right at 1:00pm, and had the chance to taste the first special beer they were tapping that day, the Canadian Breakfast Stout, a maple-syrup/bourbon-barrel aged version of the Breakfast Stout. And so we had a few hours to pass until the KBS hit the taps.
Around 3:30 we began checking out watches, and by 3:45 we were over by the Founders table. I picked up a sample of their Imperial Stout (another awesome beer from them) while we waited, and at about 3:50 the crowd began to noticeably swell. We sidled up close to the Founders table and watched as the crowd grew…and grew. At a certain point it seemed that nearly the whole crowd of attendees at the afternoon session was centered around the Founders table.
In the moments leading up to 4:00pm we watched in anticipation as the Founders staff began switching out the kegs and putting the KBS on tap. Then, precisely at 4:00pm they switched the handles on the taps, took the first pour of KBS, and a big cheer swelled up from the crowd. The euphoria and pandemonium that swept through the swarming crowd at that moment was really palpable!
We worked out way to the front to get our samples, and what really amazed me the most was that the Founders staff weren’t even asking what people wanted – each glass just received a 2-oz. sample of the Kentucky Breakfast Stout. That, I thought, was the ultimate statement on just how excited people were to both serve and taste this beer.
True to expectations, the beer was excellent, and easily one of the best that I tasted that day. And so when it was released a couple of months later I worked hard to track down a couple of bottles so that I could try it again in a more relaxed environment where I could really get a chance to taste what this beer is all about. I was lucky to get my hands on any! Distribution of the beer is extremely limited, and the rumor was that only about 40 cases were sent to the whole state. Most shops I talked to received 1 case, if any.
But in the end I did manage to get my hands on a couple, and I’m sure glad that I did. This is without a doubt, a beer that lives up to the hype surrounding it. As I mentioned before, this is a bigger, bolder variation of their Breakfast Stout that is aged in bourbon barrels. It weighs in a 11.2% with 70 IBUs.
The beer pours thick and viscous, and a jet, opaque black. A dark brown one-finger head forms and quickly dissipates leaving significant lacing on the glass. The nose has rich notes of coffee, oak, chocolate beans, cocoa powder, and bourbon. A trace of smoke weaves amidst these flavors, while the bourbon notes become richer and more evident as the beer warms. The palate is thickly textured with warm, mouth-coating flavors and soft carbonation. The palate is rich with flavors of coffee, bittersweet chocolate, carob, bourbon – this flavor really begins to open up as the beer warms -, and caramel. All of the flavors are incredibly well integrated, with no one flavor predominating. As with the nose the bourbon flavors become more prominent as the beer warms, but still not becoming overwhelming at any point. The finish is long-lasting and has flavors of ground coffee, cocoa, and rich, warming bourbon.
This is one of the best beers that I’ve had the pleasure to drink. What really amazes me is just how many flavors the beer exhibits, and how well integrated they all are. Particularly notable was the way in which the impact of the bourbon flavors changed as the beer warmed: when it was colder the bourbon flavors were subtle, serving as an accompaniment to the coffee and bittersweet chocolate flavors, and as the beer warmed the bourbon flavors grew in stature, shedding light on the caramel and cocoa flavors. And at no point did the bourbon overwhelm any of these flavors.
All in all a very dynamic and delicious beer that is without a doubt one of the highlights of the year’s special-releases. Yet again, Founder hits a home-run with one of the rare, hard-to-find beers.
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