Founders Backstage Series # 4: Frangelic Mountain Brown

Founders Backstage Series # 4: Frangelic Mountain Brown

Frangelic Mountain Brown is the quintessential taproom “one-off” beer: Founders’ brewers created the Mountain Brown series for their taproom in Grand Rapids in 2007. Frangelic Mountain Brown is the 16th iteration in the series of popular brown ales—and it likely won’t be the last. The singular characteristic of this beer comes from the use of hazelnut coffees in the brewing process. The beer has distinct aromatics with sweet and nutty flavors beautifully balanced. Founders is known for its beers made with coffee (i.e., the Breakfast Stout series), but this is both the brewery’s first brown ale and its first beer brewed with hazelnut coffees to be bottled. It clocks in at 9% ABV.
3.8
532 reviews
Grand Rapids, United States

Community reviews

4.0 Bottle. Dark bronze color, creamy foam. Aroma: great coffee, poppy seeds, nuts, baked goods, pies, peanuts, sweet, maple syrup and popcorn. Taste sweet, great coffee, caramel, peanuts, baked goods, nut pie, great dessert.
3.6 Botella de 355 ml @ Beer Shelf, Zaragoza. Color marrón oscuro, espuma beige abundante y con buena retención. Aromas maltas tostadas, caramelo y licor de avellanas. En boca es bastante licorosa, avellanas, chocolate con leche, cereal.
4.0 Good foam. Nose. Caramel, nuts, light chocolate, complex. Soft body. Taste. Sweetish, malty, Caramel,roasted notes, nut with a pleasant harmonious aftertaste. Perfectly balanced beer.
3.6 355ml bottle from TBS in Moscow. Pours opaque brown with a medium sized beige head. Aroma is mainly hazelnuts, coffee notes. Taste is light sweet, coffee and hazelnut. Warming alcohol finish. Medium bodied, creamy mouthfeel. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to.
4.0 35,5cl Bottle @ Beer Republic, Breda, Netherlands. Dark brown colour with a medium size tan head. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, nuts. Taste is roasted malt, coffee, nuts, sweet, hints of chocolate. Medium body, average carbonation.
3.4 Fad. Brunrød klar øl med lille skumhoved. Kæmpe duft af hasselnød. Smagen er igen hasselnød men ikke så balanceret. Ok men ikke helt oppe at ringe.
4.3 330ml bottle. Pours a deep brown with lots of pillowy white head which disappears quickly. Huge nose full of hazelnut and hints of coffee. Medium to full body with strong velvety notes and hints of heat. Forward full of hazelnut and sweetish dark malts. Hints of coffee at the back. Delicious beer which really needs to be continuously made.
3.3 Pours clear dark Ruby red, with lacing mahogany foam head. Aroma is coffee and hazelnut, so is taste. Nice in drinking. (Velp 202009)
4.0 Dark brown with a medium light brown head. Aroma of coffee, cocoa and some burned malt and nuts sense. Sweet with a good coffee, cocoa and burned malt Finnish. Nice! PL CHE-LIV 0-2 bb 05.2021, From Vinmonopolet Tromsø jul 2020.
3.7 Flaska från SB. Disig mörkbrun öl med ett mörkbeige skum. Doft och smak av rostad malt, kaffe, karamell, mörk choklad och hasselnötter.
4.2 Clear, dark brow beer with a three finger high, beige head. Hazelnut, coffee, roasted malt, chocolate and caramel. Warming alcohol at the end. Great beer!
3.8 33cl bottle from Abeervinum, Rimini, Italy. Pours deep brown, with fine light brown foam. Aroma is a bomb of coffee and hazelnut. The intensity of the hazelnut feeling is probably due to the use of aromas. Body is fairly dense, moderate tickling carbonation. Taste is medium-high sweet, fairly roasty. Final is fairly long with hazelnut, but maybe a little too much.
4.4 deep dark brown, almost black color with a thick tannish head; fantastic hazelnut coffee aroma; great roasted malt flavor with lots of hazelnut and coffee notes; pretty smooth for a high gravity beer
3.3 Layered brownish to cream head over hazy, deep mahogany to brown beer. Hazelnuts, I Nutella /I jumping out of the glass. Nuts-chocolate, bit of mocha, solid and liquid vegetable fats. The above with an extra bitterish to bitter flavour: roast & coffee, getting rid of the breadspread sweetness, if only partially. Dark green leaves, even a bit earthy. Very thick, chewy, full bodied, feels well-carbonated. I'm sure there's plenty of fans for this. Not liking coffee, nor Nutella, I'm not in their number.
4.0 Bouteille de 33 CL achetée sur Saveur Bière. Robe brune sombre avec une légère mousse brune. Arômes intenses de cacao, épices et boisés. Texture liquoreuse, carbonatation faible, très faible amertume. Notes de cacao, café torréfié, boisées, légèrement résineuses. Finale sèche portée sur le cacao.
3.7 17/20 huge hazelnut, really sweet and nice taste, 355ml perfect amount, nice and smooth and so tasty like eating a nutty dessert
2.9 Bottle - mistakenly delivered in my Drizly order - I had ordered a different Founders beer and this one arrived - I probably never would have ordered this on purpose because I hate flavored coffee (I think it’s an affront to God; if you don’t like the taste of coffee, don’t drink it) - tastes heavily of hazelnut-drenched, mid-quality, slightly charred coffee beans - the acidity of the coffee cuts through in the finish, tempering the sweetness, but it’s a little abrasive - some maple and vanilla - tastes like breakfast at a small-town Midwest cafe run by a little old lady who wears cat sweaters, even in the summertime.
4.0 Bottle @ Fox & Hounds, Sønderborg. Pours hazy chestnut brown with airy but stable light tan head. Clear aroma of chocolate, nuts and yeast, with touche of malt. Bitter, roasty and nutty onset, giving way to sweet notes of chocolate and lactose and caramel malt. Nutty aftertaste with notes of yeast and chocolate. Warming alcohol presence. Yummy!
4.0 Bottle pours brown with a off white head. Aroma of chocolate, malts and some nuts. Taste is coffee, chocolate and malts
3.7 04-07-20 // Hopfenjünger-Hef big bottle sharing 2020. Blindtasting: hazelnut extreme nose. Feels a bit lighter than 9%.
3.8 Huge light brown head. Sparkling dark brown color. Huge nut aroma blended with a nice roasted malt and milk chocolate. Big nut taste with much chocolate and a balanced bitterness.
2.7 355ml bottle (beerdome.nl) (5:4:5:3:10=2.7) "the quintessential taproom 'one-off' beer", eh? Available all round the world, and with 497 raters, yes, that sounds very 'one-off''. Wait, I thought yanks don't understand the phrase 'one-off'? Dark brown large tight brown head, which settles to a thin layer. Crazy sweet hazelnut coffee aroma, like those non-coffee coffees that you get from non-coffee coffee shops. Dead sugary palate, with just enough carbonation to stop it being sticky and sickly. Taste is the same shot of fake essence that went into the aroma. I think there's some beer here, but if they can't be bothered to make their beer taste of beer, I can't be bothered to go hunting for what traces remain. I'm not going to be an omhper-level hater - wow, 1.4 is harrrrrsh - respect!!! - but with all the adjuncts, the brewer is clearly compensating. It is what it is. Which is a tick.
3.8 How: Bottle. Where: Systembolaget. Appearance: Hazy amber/brown colour with a tan head. Aroma: Malt, caramel, spices, nuts. Body: Medium body, low to medium carbonation. Flavour: Malt, caramel, some fruit, spices, nuts.
4.3 En copa, cerveza marrón oscura, ligeramente túrbia, y con una generosa capa de espuma color beige. Aroma muy potente y marcado a avellanas y chocolate con leche, junto con café, cereal tostado, galleta, bizcocho, y un fondo de licor. En boca, textura ligeramente espesa y oleosa, de carbonatación baja y amargor suave en garganta. Sabor con mayor dominado por la avellana y el café, pero con mayor presencia de café y licor, bizcocho y galletas. Una Imperial Brown Ale que resulta todo un bizcocho de avellanas y chocolate. Un postre brutal! Founders no decepciona con sus Imperial Loquesea.
4.0 0,3 litre Bottle from Vinmonopolet Lillehammer. Dark brown with light brown head. Roasted malts, hazelnuts, coffee, sweetness. Some bitterness in The finnish.
3.8 Bottle 355ml, a brown beer with medium head. Nose is very nice on chocolate cake and cookies, touch of coffee beans, milkchoco. Aroma is more on roasted nuts, toasted grain, roasted beans, finish on toasted nuts slightly astringent finish. Body is sweet, roasted nuts aftertaste.
3.9 12 fl oz bottle. Appearance is a dark opaque brown, topped with a finger of off white froth. Aroma is strongly hazelnut above everything else, little or no hint of the coffee or malts at all, drowned out by the sweet nutty notes. Taste is hazelnut nuttiness and sweetness. Again, little by way of coffee. Very reminiscent of Rogie's Hazelnut Nectar! Mouthfel and body comes across a little thinner and more watery than expected though.
3.9 Flaska. Disig mörkbrun med ett beige skum. Hasselnöt och kaffe dominerar såväl smak som doft. DEssutom hittas mörk choklad, karamell och rostad malt. Fyllig kropp. Gott!
3.7 35 cl fles. Bruin bier met robijnrode gloed en crème kleurig schuim. Geur: hazelnoot, zoet, wat cacao. Smaak: idem met ietwat bitterheid. Wat dun mondgevoel, weinig volmondig. Medium koolzuurprikkel. Afdronk: wat alcohol verwarmend.
4.3 Bottle from Gedeelde Vreugde. Pours hazy dark brown with a big, unstable, frothy, tan head. Aroma of hazelnut paste, milk chocolate, praliné, mocha, vanilla, almond, amaretto, toffee, biscuit. Taste has sweet chocolate praliné & hazelnut paste over bready, biscuity, slightly toasty maltiness. Thick sweet & slightly bitter nuttiness lead the way to a toasty, herbal hoppy finish, hint of roasted nuts & coffee, more hazelnut paste cloying a bit, with warming 'Italian coffee' alcohol. Medium to full body, creamy texture, fizzy carbonation. Very sweet overall but not over the top. A true delight to sip!