Quick Sips: Founders Porter

There are a few core styles that simply must be explored and appreciated by any self-respecting beer geek, and without question porter is one of them. The origins of stout lie in porter, and porter itself has a rich, impressive history that is sometimes ignored in today's rush for sour beers and hop bombs.

Thankfully there are lots of porters out there. Some are pretty mediocre, some are quite good -- and then there is Founders Porter, one of the very best on the market. It gets a perfect 100 at ratebeer.com for a reason.

Pouring a brown so deep it might as well be black, the frothy tan head kicks up aromas of chocolate, toffee, and a hint of coffee, and the taste is pure bliss. You know that “ooooh” sound some people make when they bite into a rich chocolate cake? Yeah, it’s like that.

The label describes the beer as “Dark, Rich and Sexy,” and that’s about right. This is pure sex in a glass. Drinking it in public feels like an indecent act. But if indecency is wrong, I don’t want to be right

Honestly, if you even remotely like porters, GET THIS BEER NOW.

NOTE: Portions of this post originally appeared in The Philly Weekly

Founders All Day IPA: 10 Beers of Summer

Look, hops are great. Hops are awesome. Hops are glorious.  But hop bombs are not necessarily the way you want to fuel your summer yard work. That's why the advent of "session" IPAs (which are IPAs in name only, they're actually bitter pale ales) is a great thing.

And it couldn't have been done by a better brewery than Founders, one of my very favorites.

See, the whole craft beer revolution has lacked in one major respect: providing tasty beers that are still low enough in alcohol that you can drink them all day. Hey, don't take my word for it. Look at the Data: The average ABV for beer is about 4.5 percent, but if you drink good shit the average ABV of new beers hitting the market jumps to 7 percent. Well farking hell, you can't spend an entire day playing cornhole and downing brews if you're drinking 7% percent beers!

(Well, I can't, at least.)

Founders addresses this with All Day IPA, a bright, hoppy brew that comes in at a modest 4.7 percent ABV. You'll smell tangerines and mango and pine in this bitter-but-not-too-bitter brew, a beer that has flavor enough to satisfy while being easy enough on the alcohol that you can keep at cornhole without getting smashed. Yep, this is a tasty beer made even better by the fact that you can quite literally drink it all day. In other words, perfect for summer.

Oh yeah, and COMMENT HERE AND ON FACEBOOK AND WIN SWAG, SWAG, SWAG! Yeah.

Portions of this post originally appeared in the Philadelphia Weekly.

The Philly Beer Top 50 - Part 9

Philly Beer Week is pretty much the biggest beer thing ever this side of the Great American Beer Festival when it comes to the not-shitty side of the Mississippi, so needless to say I'm stoked to be writing the 50-Beer Countdown To Philly Beer Week for the Philadelphia Weekly.

And hey, I care for you (not really), so I'm happy to divide it up into handy little five-beer lists like this. So here are five of the 50 beers available in Philly that you MUST drink. Part 9 of 10!

Founders Porter
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/Founders-Porter-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-41-207890051.html

Terrapin Monk's Revenge Imperial Belgian IPA
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Terrapin-Monks-Revenge-Imperial-Belgian-IPA-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-42-207890161.html

Stillwater A Saison Darkly
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/Stillwater-A-Saison-Darkly-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-208861641.html

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/Sierra-Nevada-Pale-Ale-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-43-208863351.html

Monk's Safe Flemish Sour Ale
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/Monks-Cafe-Flemish-Sour-Ale-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day--208863761.html

The Philly Beer Top 50 - Part 4

Philly Beer Week is pretty much the biggest beer thing ever this side of the Great American Beer Festival when it comes to the not-shitty side of the Mississippi, so needless to say I'm stoked to be writing the 50-Beer Countdown To Philly Beer Week for the Philadelphia Weekly.

And hey, I care for you (not really), so I'm happy to divide it up into handy little five-beer lists like this. So here are five of the 50 beers available in Philly that you MUST drink. Part 4 of 10!

Founders Dirty Bastard
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Founders-Dirty-Bastard-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-17-204118431.html

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Oskar-Blues-Dales-Pale-Ale-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-18-204893471.html

Terrapin Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Terrapin-Moo-Hoo-Chocolate-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-19-204895221.html

Tröegs JavaHead Stout
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Troegs-Javahead-Stout-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-20-205399151.html

Fegley’s Insidious Imperial Stout Ale
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Fegleys-Bourbon-Barrel-Insidious-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-24-205961861.html

The Philly Beer Top 50 - Part 3

Philly Beer Week is pretty much the biggest beer thing ever this side of the Great American Beer Festival when it comes to the not-shitty side of the Mississippi, so needless to say I'm stoked to be writing the 50-Beer Countdown To Philly Beer Week for the Philadelphia Weekly.

And hey, I care for you (not really), so I'm happy to divide it up into handy little five-beer lists like this. So here are five of the 50 beers available in Philly that you MUST drink. Part 3 of 10!

Tröegs Dreamweaver
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Troegs-Dreamweaver-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-12-204099481.html

Avery Brewing's Mephistopheles
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Avery-Mephistopheles-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-12-204100571.html

Founders All Day IPA
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Founders-All-Day-IPA-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-13-204110031.html

Rodenbach Grand Cru
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Rodenbach-Grand-Cru-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-Day-14-204111951.html

Ommegang Hennepin
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/drink/philly-beer-week/Ommegang-Hennepin-PWs-50-Beer-Countdown-to-Philly-Beer-Week-204117901.html

From the Cellar: Founder's KBS

Starting with this post, I'm going to periodically pull something from my beer cellar and report how it has aged. (Yes, you can age beer; check this post for more details.) Sometimes I'll touch on beers that have been aged for several years or more, other times the beers will be as little as a year old. Whenever possible I'll touch on something I've reviewed before as a Quick Sip so as to compare where a beer started and where it ended up.

We begin with a very special beer indeed. Founder's KBS (which stands for Kentucky Breakfast Stout) is a highly sought-after, hugely tasty imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Read my initial impressions in this post from last year. This bottle comes from that same batch and was purchased at the same time. It has been stored since purchase, boxed in the back of a dark closet, and kept between 65 and 70 degrees during that time.

So how did it hold up?

Fresh from the fridge, the beers pours with only a faint sliver of head, no more than a thin layer of chocolate tan foam. The beer itself is as black as used motor oil. You might find dinosaur bones preserved in this thick black liquid. The aroma has hints of bourbon, but it falls well short of the overpowering bourbon nose of this beer when it's fresh.

The taste of bourbon hasn't faded, at least. This is still one potent brew, with the beer immediately hitting your mouth with powerful bourbon, then shifting to a complex mix of rich, roasty malts, and finally finishing on yet more bourbon with hints of vanilla from the oak aging thrown in for good measure. The oak comes on stronger than I recall first time around, especially in the finish. Despite a year to mellow out, the robust 11.1% ABV is still clearly noticeable; this brew is warming, but not "hot." As the temperature begins to rise -- and that will happen, since this is a beer you'll sip for an hour -- the booze becomes even more apparent both in the taste and the aroma.

After a year, Founder's legendary KBS remains a delicious, supremely satisfying beer. However, in my view the fresh bottle was the better bottle.


BEER: Founder's KBS
VINTAGE: 2011
TIME AGED: One year
NOTES: None

VERDICT: It's okay to cellar this, it will hold up well, but don't wait too long before you drink it. It's better fresh, and after a year no new complexities are revealed in this beer.

Quick Sips: Founders Centennial IPA

Michigan may have given us Detroit, Kid Rock, and Davie Coulier, but they've more than made up for those sins with Christie Brinkley, Col. Potter from M.A.S.H., and Founders Brewing Company, for my money one of the better widely available breweries operating today.

Centennial IPA is their flagship IPA, single-hopped with Centennial hops (duh) for a distinct, clean-but-potent bitterness. I've posted before about hops, and have even posted about some single-hop beers. This beer is one of the better showcases of using a single hop instead of the traditional two-to-four hops used in most beers. (Interestingly, Two-Hearted Ale the flagship beer of Founders' Michigan neighbors, Bell's Beer, is also single-hopped with Centennial.)

The nose on the Founders give you a nice, floral burst of pine. It's not pungent and resiny, it's crisp, dry and clean. A medium body and subdued malts mean the hops take center stage. The beer is strongly bitter. Folks who don't like hoppy beers will be put off by this one. Those who do should enjoy it.

I wouldn't call this an essential pickup. Founders does better beers. But anyone who enjoys a good IPA is likely to enjoy this one.

Quick Sips: Founders Double Trouble DIPA

First things first: If you are a lover of big IPAs, go get this NOW. The fresher the better. It's seasonal. Limited run. GO BUY IT.

So anyway, at the moment, Founders is among my favorite breweries. Pretty much everything they do is good, and much of what they do is world class. Double Trouble, an imperial IPA, is no different. While half the craft beer community goes gaga over Hopslam, Double Trouble quietly blasts the hell out of palates everywhere.

Crack that bottle and pour it. The aroma is all pungent piney hops, like a forest in the mountains of the western U.S.

Drinking it, you get swift bitterness, BIG, yet not harsh. This beer is well-balanced despite the massive hopping. Must be a big malt body, but can’t detect it. Unlike other imperial IPAs -- Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA comes to mind -- this beer isn't big on sweetness.

Overall, another outstanding entry in Founder's already great roster.

Founder's Breakfast Stout: a little slice of Heaven

Founders Brewing Company out of Michigan has over the last few years established themselves as one of America's very best craft breweries, especially of stouts. Difficult to find beers such as their KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) get beer geeks raving, but even their year-round "standard" beers are pretty kick-ass, notably Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale and Centennial IPA.

My favorite, though, is by far their Breakfast Stout, a double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout. Yeah, you read that right. It's only available between September and December, tends to disappear from the shelves fairly quick depending on where you live, and is worth spending a few weeks in a war-torn country just to try.



This is a big, tasty stout, though I wondered if it would be when I first poured the glass. The aroma had hints of coffee and roasted chocolate, but neither were overpowering.

The taste, though. Yeah, the taste. While it's true this is like a meal in a glass, the important part is that it's like a delicious meal in a glass. You don't initially taste strong chocolate or coffee; they're just hints in an impressive weave of roasty flavor. They're rich and full and strong, yet they never punch you in the face. The beer is perfectly balanced, tasting like a complex stout with smokey nuances and a smoothness (probably brought on by the chocolate) that belies its bitterness. Very impressive. Hyped beers often don't live up to the hype. This one does.

The bottom line is, this is a stupidly good stout that really would make a great breakfast if it weren't for the alcohol. It offers a strong and complex yet not overpowering taste. None of the boasted flavors (chocolate, coffee, oatmeal) are so prominent that they scream "look at me," instead mixing into a pleasing and heady beverage.

Believe the hype.

Founder's Breakfast Stout should be hitting stores in a few weeks.

(2013 edit: The last year years,Founder's Breakfast Stout has changed a bit, with the coffee being much more out front, at times being the dominant flavor. Still delicious, but certainly a bit different.)

Chasing down the elusive KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout)

Note: I brought this post over from my main blog.

Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout, aka KBS, is an amazing, hard to find beer because the once-a-year brew sells out so fast, but it's well worth the trouble of tracking it down. Here's why.



There is a reason why Ratebeer rates it a world class beer and ranks it as one of the top 10 beers in the world based on thousands of reviews. It's quite simply one of the most complex, rich, and flavorful beers you'll ever have. Folks who have only experienced the usual Bud-Miller-Coors style beers are probably unaware that beer can be like this.

I was lucky to even get it. I had been bugging the guys at my local liquor store two months ahead of time. "Do you think you'll be able to get the KBS? Please set a few bottles aside for me!" Turns out my entire state only got 120 cases. Otherwise good liquor stores were #25 or #30 on their distributor's list to get a case ... and those distributors had maybe four cases to dish out. Yikes.

But my shop did get it, and they set aside two bottles for me. (Few shops sold this in the four-packs it comes in. Instead, most imposed one- or two-bottle limits on customers.) I'm glad they did. This stuff was a treat.

This is an imperial stout brewed with huge amounts of coffee and chocolate, both of which are very much a part of this heady, chewy brew's taste and aroma. It's rich and dark and very full-bodied. Founders sends the taste into the stratosphere, though, when they cave age it for a year inside oak bourbon barrels. The result is a beer loaded with flavors that all compete for center stage without crowding one another out.

KBS has a strong, up-front bourbon taste with hints of vanilla in the aroma. Give it a whiff and you'd almost think you're smelling a dense liquor. It's a beer through and through, though. After the initial burst of bourbon at the start of your sip, coffee and chocolate rise up in the middle, with hints of vanilla working to counter the mocha taste. The balance is perfect. As you finish your sip you're left with a lingering, oaky bourbon finish.

All in all, it wasn't just a beer, it was an experience. If by some amazing chance you see some, grab it. Otherwise, be ready to act fast when next year's batch is released. It's already in barrels.