Founders Brewing Co.
Grand Rapids, MI
Available: MI
Breakfast Stout is an oatmeal stout brewed with Kona and Sumatran coffee and a generous amount of chocolate.
ABV: 8.3
ABW: 6.6
Color: 58
Bitterness: 25
Original gravity: 1080
Final gravity: 1020
Malts used: chocolate, de-bitterized black, roasted barley
Hops used: Willamette, Nugget
Thick and silky, with notes of espresso, unsweetened chocolate, molasses, fig cake and burnt raisin. They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day: that it gives you the energy you need for your day’s activities. But at 8.3%, I don’t think I’d be doing anything too ambitious afterwards. (Especially considering that I might be inclined to have a second.) Perhaps with Sunday brunch? Could also be called “Dessert Stout.”
“Double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout,” the label says, which is certainly more than I usually have for breakfast. There’s no missing the coffee on the aroma of this pitch black stout, which dominates what seems to be a faint whiff of licorice and soft dark chocolate notes. On the palate, the mix of coffee and chocolate flavors is apparent, along with some raisin, prune and the black licorice sitting in the background. It was the rich and warming finish that sent me scrambling to discover this beer’s strength, though, and at over 8% alcohol, I think I’ll pass on breakfast and save it for after-dinner chocolates.
John Hansell is an equal-opportunity drinker. He writes about beer, wine and spirits. He is the creator, publisher & editor of Malt Advocate, a magazine for the whisky enthusiast.
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn’t looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn’t have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.
