Founders Imperial Stout

A fine companion to end a meal or relax in front of the hearth with, this robust ale will cellar well for years. Brewed with ten varieties of malted barley this stout is extremely smooth, complex and rich in body. We recommend serving at cellar temperature. Sit back and enjoy its richness and complexity, you’re about to drink the ultimate winter warmer.

4.1

2225 reviews

Grand Rapids, United States

Community reviews

4.0 Bottle at sommerhus. 5 years of aging. Aroma of roasted malt, caramel, dark chocolate, coffee, hoppy backbone. Heavy sweet and bitter with lingering roasted notes. Full and creamy. Good

4.5 Bottle from Gedeelde Vreugde. Pours cloudy black with a lasting, thick, foamy, dark beige head. Aroma of dark chocolate, coffee roast, cream, prune, toast, cashew, black pepper, dried tea leaves, wood, whisky. Taste is full-on maltiness with sweet chocolate, dates & prune, burnt caramel, a bit creamy yet bitter touches of spicy pepper, toast & coffee roast peek out as well as a faint umami hint. Dry, earthy, herbal hoppy finish, toasty, more dark chocolate & warming whisky alcohol. Full body, creamy texture, soft carbonation. Textbook Imperial Stout but excels in every department.

3.8 Really good beer, above avg inperial stout, but not remarkable. Maybe because it’s not so forward, but instead a good balance of hops, medium richness, but the body and lively freshness is lacking. Online saveur bier. Bottled 18 months ago

3.8 Draft. Black in color with a nice reddish brown head. Malty aroma with rich coffee notes in the flavor profile. Smooth finish. Very good.

4.4 En copa, cerveza totalmente negra, con una generosa capa de espuma color toffee. Aroma intenso a café, cacao, toffee, canela, bizcocho, madera, y licor. En boca, textura muy espesa y altamente oleosa, de carbonatación muy baja, sedosa al paladar y amargor suave. Sabor complejo, predominando el chocolate y el café, junto con toffee, crema de leche, canela, galletas, licor, y un final que recuerda a un bizcocho. Una Imperial Stout soberbia, de lo mejor de Founders. Sin duda, maestros de las Imperial Stout, y cualquier cerveza cargada de alcohol.

3.7 Enorme bak aan koffie, geroosterde mout, enorm stevig, volke donkere chocolade, laurier, zoethout, veel donker fruit, caramel, scherp, creamy, maar ben niet zo weg van de balans, allemaal te overdreven.

4.1 Aroma: Dark roasted malt with berries and alcohol. Flavour: Sweet roasted malt with coffee and slight smoke. Aftertaste is roasted malt and some bitterness. Colour: Black with a brown head. From: Bottle @ BestOfBeers webshop Apr. 2020.

4.2 Copenhagen 9/5 2020. 35,5 cl bottle from Best of Beers web-shop. What looks like an American take on a European Coat of Arms on the label. Two-headed Eagle, a big crown and a Sct. George battling a fairly small Dragon. Pours opaque dark brown with a medium-sized beige head. Settles as thin, flimsy layer of foam just covering the surface of the beer. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Moderate lacing. Aroma is intense and with a good balance of the sweet, the earthy and sour. Brown sugar, caramel. Roast. Sour grains. Leather and tobacco. Earthy odor of wet soil. Light carbonation. Thick, viscous, fat, soft, creamy texture Flavor is intense with strong sweetness followed by a medium strong bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter with a strong sweet undercurrent. Lingering. Finish has a distinct boozy burn. Potent and not too sweet, imperial boozer.

4.6 Robe très sombre, et légère mousse chocolatée. Un corps malté au début qui ensuite libère l'arôme du café, et de chocolat noire par la suite, comme on s'y attend, ce qui amène une amertume agréable. Malgré la présence d'alcool en bouche, le tout se boit facilement et en prenant son temps.

4.1 Testa color nocciola a texture grande e irregolare dalla sufficiente tenuta, corpo nero. Profumo di legno affumicato, cioccolato, caramello, tostature di malto e caffe, nocciola, frutta sotto spirito. Al palato, caramello, cioccolato, frutta scura, tantissime note tostate, accenno di liquirizia, tabacco e un finale decisamente luppolato terroso e un po’ polveroso. Retrogusto amaricante e con bel tepore alcolico. Corpo pieno non troppo tondo, carbonazione media.

4.1 A fine companion to end a meal or relax in front of the hearth with, this robust ale will cellar well for years. Brewed with ten varieties of malted barley this stout is extremely smooth, complex and rich in body. We recommend serving at cellar temperature. Sit back and enjoy its richness and complexity, you’re about to drink the ultimate winter warmer. Aroma af mørk chokolade og kaffe, hælder helt sort, tyk væske. Meget dense, bitter og blød. Lav carbonation, full body, og rigtig stærk.

4.5 Pours completely jet black with a nice large dark brown head. Aroma is lovely deep dark roasty, some dark chocolate, some sweetness, touch of alcohol burn. Taste is fairly sweet up front, leading to some dark chocolate notes in the middle, gaining in bitterness throughout, ending in a lovely long lingering rather bitter finish with some smokey notes. Full bodied, low carbonation. A refreshing change from lots of the rather sweet imperials you most often get at the moment, bloody lovely!

4.0 Another very good stout from Founders Brewing Company! Coffee and chocolate flavors are the dominant forces. Burned sugar with molasses. Heavy rich flavor. Outstanding!!!

4.1 Pours a pitch-black coloration with a medium, creamy, dark-brown head. Smells of caramel, roasted, almost smoked malt, chocolate and coffee and just a hint of peat and earthy/herbal hops. Taste is a great balance between caramel, roasted, and slightly smoky, almost peaty malt, with some dark, bitter chocolate and coffee as well as lighter notes of toffee and dark fruit: plum, raisin and just a hint of licorice, tobacco and earthy/herbal hops. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some roasted malt, peat, chocolate and coffee lingering in the aftertaste. Full mouthfeel with a medium/rich body and medium carbonation. A very nice Imperial Stout that features some not too heavy, yet distinct, peat smoke notes along with the roasted, caramel malts and dark, bitter chocolate and coffee, but balanced nicely by some sweeter toffee and dark fruits, as well as bitter, earthy/herbal hop accents. Perhaps not quite what I expected from this, but still quite impressive in its own right, with a perhaps slightly unusual flavor profile and great balance of sweet, roasted, smoky and bitter notes. Quite complex, yet very well-balanced, as I would expect from Founders, with all of the different notes standing on their own without overpowering each other. Mouthfeel is nice and full, but could still be richer and creamier in my personal opinion.

4.7 Opaque black beer with a medium dark brown head. Heavy aroma; taste starts medium/heavy sweet and ends slightly bitter and dry. Caramel, liquorice, chocolate, mocha, roasted malts and coffee. 9/5/9/5

4.5 Color negro con espuma marrón alta de buena retención y residuo abundante. Aroma a maltas tostadas y quemadas, cacao y ceniza con notas a regaliz, espresso, madera, leche agria y licor. Sabor a maltas quemadas, chocolate negro y café espresso con notas a madera, ceniza o humo, tierra y ligero regaliz. Dulzor maltoso medio-alto, alcohol ligero y amargor torrefacto alto con regusto largo. Textura sedosa, cuerpo denso y carbonatación medio-baja. Una Imperial Stout rabiosamente torrefacta y amarga, con 10 grados perfectamente integrados y una robustez indiscutible. La definición del estilo, varios escalones por encima.

4.5 Fles 35,5cl thuis. Goed bitter, flink roasted malts, vol en romig, teer, zoetje, liquorice, zuren, pure chocolade, koffiedrab, wat droog, donker fruittonen, wat boozy. Redelijk complex. (19-3-2020).

5.0 16-03-2020; bottle; at home (bought at Saveur Bière, as part of their March 2020 discovery box). The looks of the beer are delicious. It is the perfect Stout look. The beer is very dark. The beer is pitch black. In a bright light only the slightest reddish brown glow can be seen. It is hardly anything. On top there is a lovely dark brown layer of foam. Foam retention is good. A nice drape lays on top of the beer for quite some time. Nice lacing is left on the glass. Perfect. The aroma of the beer can also be called perfect. The malts give some delicious aromas. There is amazing chocolate, coffee, roasted and toasted malts. There are caramel and toffee notes a bit more in the back. Also some nice tobacco and plum and other dried darker fruit. It is a bouquet of delicious aromas, very nice. The hops give some herbal and earthy notes, really nice with the darker malt notes. It has all the aromas you'd expect in a Stout. I can imagine this beer ages well in a cellar. The taste of the beer is also amazing. The malts give nice sweets, but also a slight bitterness form the roast and some savory notes from the toast. Quite well balanced. The hops are nice and bitter as well. The beer is very well balanced. Amazing. The palate of the beer is very nice too. It has a full body and a very smooth texture; both creamy and silky. The carbonation is medium-low. The finish of the beer is very nice. It has some nice roasted malts in it, with that nice chocolate and coffee. There is also warming alcohol, giving a lovely warming sweetness. Also a touch of that bitter roast and toast and hop. All in all, a very nice beer. I love it.

4.3 0,35l bottle. Pours jet-black with tan head. Aroma of roast, coffee, cocoa, cherry, licorice. Taste is cocoa, coffee, roast, licorice, smoke. Basic imp. stout flavours but a perfect example of the style.

4.2 Ausgezeichnetes Imperial Stout wie man das von Founders erwarten kann. Schön ausgewogen zwischen Schokolade und Kaffee. Auch optisch ein Genuss.

2.9 Svartbrun vätska med mörkt skum. Aromer av kakao, kaffe och röda bär. Kaffe och kakao i smaken. Något gräddig munkänsla. Värmande eftersmak utan störande alkoholinslag.

4.0 Bottle, black beer, black almond colored head. Aroma toast, bread, coffee, chocolate. Taste same, with some hoppy citrus in the middle, like brûlée’d grapefruit and chocolate. Palate medium rich, carbonation average, finish dry, toasty, and a bit hoppy. Excellent!

4.1 Very heavy & bit too heavy for casual drink,but would be solid winter beer

4.2 12oz bottle at home, bottled 11.21.19. Black pour with a large brown head with good retention and lacing. Big roasted aroma and flavor. Dark roasted malt, licorice, tobacco, espresso, dark chocolate, soy, caramel, charred oak and campfire, fudge. Medium carb, full body. Eternal dark bitter malt, smoke and chocolate finish. Damn fine stout.

3.7 34.5cl fles. Helder donker bruin van kleur, middelfijne romige bruine schuimkraag. De geur is chocolade en licht koffie. Smaak is zoet, chocolade, karamel en cacao. Vol body en veel koolzuur.

4.1 Pitch black colour with a large dark head. Aroma: oak, liquorice, dark chocolate, caramel, some soy, roasted malt. Rich aroma. Taste: coffee, caramel, dark chocolate, bourbon, oak, liquorice. Full creamy mouthfeel, nice dry finish.

3.6 Raisin, charred oak nose. Black, headless. Charcoal, raisin, tar. Full body. easy carbonation.

5.0 0,355 l bottle from Systembolaget Gothenburg. Very good Imerial Stout, maximum points.

3.8 12oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a moderate brown head. Aroma is coffee, roast, licorice, and some alcohol. Taste is chocolate fudge, licorice, brown sugar, caramel, roast, and coffee. Bitter finish. Full body. Soft carbonation. Viscous, creamy mouthfeel.

3.8 Bottle. Blackish beer with a brown head. Caramel and chocolate aroma with light marshmallow. Chocolate and roast flavor with caramel and light licorice. Medium-plus bodied. Chocolate and light licorice linger with roast.