Tag Archives: imperial stout

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Founders Brewing Company, Stout - Imperial, USA

Founders Breakfast Stout

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Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 8.3%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout. 60 IBUs. Seasonal availability from October to December.

Brewer Description: (from website) 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.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.75
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 355ml bottle with a best by date of 7th August 2015 and poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: It poured a deep dark brown to black colour with a very thin caramel head that disappears quickly. There is also some light spotty lacing.
Aroma: Strong roast coffee aromas with bittersweet chocolate along with a little root beer, toffee and caramel.
Taste: Amazing taste. First thought was that it tasted like biting into freshly roasted coffee beans… so good! It was then followed by bittersweet chocolate and hints of bitter hops.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, silky smooth with light carbonation.
Overall: This was really good and over the last few years my favourite non BA coffee based stout. Each year I buy at least a case of this just for myself to enjoy over the winter and over the course of the year until the next yearly batch is brewed. A must buy for me.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Evil Twin Brewing, Stout - Imperial, USA

Evil Twin I Love You With My Stout

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Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 12%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed at Two Roads Brewing Company, Stratford, CT, USA for Evil Twin

Brewer Description: (from bottle) When I copied the famous Even More Jesus, I had to ask myself as an artist, why am I doing this? I didn’t honestly know. It was just an instinct about beer as pure form… in a sense this stout is like a metaphor for freedom – the sum of all the beauty that surrounds me and my perfect contemporary existence.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with bottle date code of 287:14 (which assuming the 287th day of 2014 means a bottled date of 14 October 2014).
Appearance: The beer poured jet black into a snifter with a nice one finger tan head with good retention leaving spotty lacing.
Aroma: Smells sweet, dark cherry, vanilla, dark chocolate, raisin and there’s definitely alcohol, but nice smelling alcohol like brandy mixed with chocolate.
Taste: Like the nose, sweet lightly burnt sugar, fruit cake, dark cherry, plum, raisins with some dark chocolate in the background and slight bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with light to medium carbonation, slightly creamy.
Overall: I was pleasantly surprised with this beer. It was a more fruity stout than I expected and although sweet, it wasn’t overly done. The chocolate and dark fruit flavours worked together and even though it was boozy, it worked with this style and taste.

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3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Brouwerij De Molen, Netherlands, Stout - Imperial

De Molen Mout & Mocca

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Molen
Country: Netherlands
ABV: 11.6%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewery suggests to enjoy within 5 years

Brewer Description: Could not find any information on the website or the bottle other than to enjoy within 5 years and its name self description of malt and mocha.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: Apparently there are two versions of this beer pre-2011 and the 2011 onwards. The pre-2011 version is 9.5% ABV while the 2011 and onwards version is 11.6% ABV. This beer was bottled on 31 January 2013 along with a note saying to enjoy it within 5 years. So currently this is still well within their suggested limits. However normally with coffee flavoured beers, I prefer to drink them fresher when the coffee flavour is usually more pronounced.
Appearance: A 330ml bottle poured into a snifter glass pitch black with minimal head that disappears quickly leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Smelled of biscuit malt, some chocolate, leather and light coffee and toffee/caramel.
Taste: Similar to the smell, it leads with coffee and dark chocolate with a bitter finish. For such high ABV, there is almost no alcohol to taste.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, minimal carbonation and slightly sticky.
Overall: The lack of alcohol taste and nice coffee and bitter chocolate flavours make it easy to drink. But perhaps there is a lack of depth in flavours and also would prefer a bit more carbonation in it too.

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