Beer Review: Founders Breakfast Stout

One of Founders Brewing's more popular seasonal releases, their Breakfast Stout, has great cover art and a delightful flavor.  This is pretty easy to find, as it is produced in greater quantities than many of their more limited releases.  Billed as "double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout," I can report that all of the announced flavors do indeed show up.  It clocks in at 8.3% ABV and an advertised 60 IBU's.  Their website informs us that the beer is brewed with two types of chocolate, two types of coffee and "an abundance" of oats.

While it pours an opaque black into the glass, it has no turbidity, and the creamy mocha head diminishes almost immediately, leaving just the faintest lacing on the glass.  Notes of coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and roasted-just-a-bit-too-long nuts dominate this brew, from the aroma to the palate to the finish.  It has delicate, at times almost imperceptible carbonation which contributes to the silky, black velvet mouthfeel.   Full bodied without seeming overly heavy, this is a beer that you can drink more than one of in a sitting, despite it's depth, darkness and dominating dimensions.   The oatmeal sweetness comes through the bitterness of the coffee and dark chocolate on the finish.  Whatever hop character is present here, these purported 60 IBUs, is subsumed in the bitter nature of the coffee and dark chocolate.  But the finish here just goes on and on and on. 

They call it a Breakfast Stout for a reason.  This beer will definitely stick to your ribs.  If you have the day off, and feel like whipping up a big batch of pancakes with some bacon on the side, pour yourself a glass of this to go with it.  It will pair perfectly.  Even if you may not get much done later that afternoon.