Founders KBS - Cinnamon Vanilla Cocoa
Imperial stout with coffee, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and cocoa nibs aged in oak bourbon barrels.
Here's one for the cocoa lovers: KBS Cinnamon Vanilla Cocoa - The sumptuous, deep coffee and chocolate flavors of KBS rise to the next level with a swirl of cinnamon and a hint of vanilla to create a sweet-but-not-too-sweet barrel-aged drinking experience. It's a whole new spin on KBS that's sure to sweeten your spirits.
Here's one for the cocoa lovers: KBS Cinnamon Vanilla Cocoa - The sumptuous, deep coffee and chocolate flavors of KBS rise to the next level with a swirl of cinnamon and a hint of vanilla to create a sweet-but-not-too-sweet barrel-aged drinking experience. It's a whole new spin on KBS that's sure to sweeten your spirits.
4
168 reviews
Grand Rapids, United States
Community reviews
Base beer solid as usual. One of their worse mixes, bery commonly tasting spice recipe, the addition doesn help. Bottle beer temple ams
1 year 2 months old. Pitch black with long lasting beautiful tan head. Aroma of coffee, light cinnamon and vanilla. Taste has coffee, licorice, small cinnamon with lingering barrel. Finishes bitter. Full body, smooth mouthfeel, average carbonation. Overall this is great but could be better fresh
Pours pitch black with small beige head. Coffee, vanilla, cocoa, wood, cinamon. Full body, oily texture and flat carbonation. It is good but cinamon is taking to much over in the aftertaste.
Flaska från perfect draft. Svart öl med beiget skum. Trevlig öl med fina toner av choklad, kanel, kaffe, rostad malt, vanilj och bourbon. Torr fin avslutning.
black color; lots of vanilla in the aroma with some cinnamon and oaky bourbon; sweet, chocolaty malt flavor with big vanilla and cinnamon notes with some hints of bourbon and oak; I am a big fan of the KBS series, but this one was a little sweet and teh cinnamon and vanilla I felt were overpowering
Bottle at home, 6th November 22, picked up from Sterk, Amsterdam, pours a silky black beer. Aroma is coffee, cocoa, beans, vanilla and spice. Taste is bitter cocoa, coffee, light cinnamon and vanilla in the background, well done and delicious stout - not too sweet
Aroma: espresso, cognac, zoet-kruidig, malt.
It looks very black and no head at all.
Taste: coffee, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao, again the cognac.
Doet me denken aan die kerst bieren maar die zijn meestal niet zo goed.
Een beetje te zoet voor mij maar al bij al een super biertje.
Pours coffee brown with a thick and persistent cocoa head. Aroma delivers roast malt, cinnamon, cocoa, hints of vanilla and coffee. Flavor contributes roast malt, cocoa, cinnamon, bourbon, vanilla, undertones of milk chocolate and coffee. Texture gives good firm body and peppy fizz. Great for any meal, any time, in any state!
35,5 cl bottle @ home, bottled 09.03.2021. Rated on 23.09.2022
Aroma has vanilla and cocoa. Flavour has cinnamon, cocoa, some artifical chocolate candy. Sweet and delicious!
git zwart bier met een kleine crème kleurige schuimkraag. Het bier smaakt vanaf de eerste slok heerlijk zoet met hinten van Kaneel, koffie, chocolade, vanille en drop. Daarnaast is de ABV duidelijk te herkennen en dit bier is een leuke variatie op de normale KBS.
Nera, versa due dita di schiuma. Aroma di vaniglia, caffè, cioccolato e spezie. In bocca sentori di vaniglia, caffè, cioccolato, malto tostato seguiti da intense note di cannella e spezie. Nel complesso risulta essere molto ben bilanciata e con un retrogusto speziato persistente.
Sample from a bottle. A black beer with a brown head. Aroma and flaovur of malt, caramel, vanilla, cocoa, cinnamon, bourbon, alcohol and with a bitter finish.
This sat in my cabinet for a while, which may have dulled the spices a little. This is still a big, rich beer. Strong cocoa flavor in the finish. Dashes of vanilla, cinnamon, and bourbon. Malty with an undercurrent of spices. VG
13th September 2022
Opaque black - brown beer with a decent bubbly tan head. Palate is fairly light and semi dry, reasonable fine carbonation. The vanilla cocoa bourbon aspect of this brew is immediately obvious and it's a pleasant experience. Thankfully someone had the good sense to keep the cinnamon in the supporting cast list and not the star of the show. A good chocolate and coffee vibe coming through on the back end before a semi dry crisp finish. My issues with this Impy is the incongruent light crisp palate and that the additional flavours of it are rather obvious and not smoothly integrated additions to the base beer. All that said, it kinda goes down well in an Amundsen pasty sort of way, it's really hard to resist!
Liquide très noir, petite mousse beige assez sympa. Très joli nez de cannelle et de vanille bien entendu et, un peu plus tard du chocolat. Bouche bien ronde avec les mêmes saveurs, du whisky, du chocolat, du gâteau, du confit, peut-être des notes de cerise, du candi. Finale un peu piquante, acide avec le café qui devient très présent pour un ensemble très équilibré...comme une nouvelle grande KBS!
Czarno-brązowe, bez piany. Aromat mocno cynamonowy, waniliowy, kakaowy. W smaku półsłodkie, znów cynamon przykrywa beczkę, w tle wanilia i kakao. Lekko taniczna, piołunowa goryczka, dziwnie olejkowe, arakowe w odbiorze, mało ciała, średnie co2, lekko alkoholowe. PO CO TE DODATKI w piwie leżakowanym w beczce????????
Bottled 9/6/21, drunk 8/18/22.
Dark ebony with ruddy highlights. Tan head steadily to ring.
Thick, strong, heavy cinnamon. Jesus, if it's this cinnamon-heavy at 11 months, I can't imagine what this was like fresh. Some dark chocolate and cacao, minimal barrel and quite low malt character with lingering vanilla and roast. Low alcohol apparency.
In the mouth, the cinnamon strikes again, heavily drying out the body and creating strong, strong, astringent dryness. I appreciate the fact that it's relatively dry, but it feels more like just alcohol and cinnamon dryness, which isn't great. Chocolate, light vanilla, light roast...just doesn't quite give me enough for 12%. I want more richness, more depth of malt, more lingering (non-cinnamon) flavor....
Tap at FOB, Rimini, Italy. Pours practically black, with solid light brown foam, very fine. Aroma is rich, of vanilla, coffee, dark chocolate, molasses. Body is only slightly dense, with moderate carbonation.Sticky and smooth. Taste is fairly sweet, little roasty. Final is fairly long.
Bottle. Pours black with a thick tan head. Aroma of cinnamon, bourbon barrel, vanilla, roasted malt, chocolate malt. Flavor of cinnamon initially with more cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, bourbon, with a sweet boozy finish. Tasty dessert beer!
8/4/9/4/15 (4.0/5)
Bottle from Dranken Vandewoude and drunk at home. Black beer lasting tan head. Big vanilla and dark chocolate aroma. yes some cinnamon spice definitely like a cinnamon cake. yep decent impy stout but prefer the straight version. some heat on the finish. tasty though and smooth
Botella de 35,5 cl. Fecha de embotellado 03/09/2021. Color negro con ligera carbonatación y un dedo de espuma. Aroma a canela, café, cacao, bourbon. Sabor a canela, bourbon, chocolate, café, vainilla. Cuerpo medio, dulce, fácil de beber, predomina la canela, rica pero no mejora a la KBS original, demasiado dulce para mi gusto.
Love in a botle
Bottle. Pours a pitch black hue with a large brown head. A big spicy and roast nose. Rich, vanilla, sweet throughout, huge cinnamon, licorice, vanilla, heavy roast, milky coffee.
Almost simple for a pastry stout, but very good drinkability. 12% not seen behind the flavour.
355ml bottle. Complex smells of cocoa, chocolate, vainilla and some mint in the end. Very dark color, low head, good looking bubbles, fantastic taste, but that oaked alcohol struck i cannot like it. I still have never tried an oaked beer that drives me crazy, but this one has been the one closer.
Copenhagen 1/7 2022. 35,5 cl bottle from Meny, Vermlandsgade, Kbh. S. Golden orange label with white letters stating the name and style of the beer and assuring me that this is a "Highly Acclaimed Beer".
Pours opaque, dark brown with a big beige head. A bit bubbly. Settles as thin layer of foam just covering the surface of the beer. Substantial lacing.
Aroma is intense with a sweet, dessert-like odor with a bit of Christmas spice. Sweet cocoa, cinnamon in abundance, dark chocolate, vanilla.
Light carbonation. Medium thick, oily, soft, far, creamy and almost flat texture.
Flavor is intense with a strong, spicy sweetness followed by a moderately strong bitterness. Aftertaste is sweet bordering on sugary with a searing boozy undertone. Lingering.
I am not sure that I find that Cinnamon and vanilla is a benefit to my Kentucky Breakfast.
LCI. Uit de fles geschonken. Tja, kaneel, vanille, koffie en cacao… dat is wat je proeft. En vooral niet zoet, en dat maakt hem dus lekker. Mooi in balans, vol van smaak.
Bottle sample at a tasting. Opaque black with brownish head. The aroma has notes of cinnamon, cocoa, tonka, dark chocolate, wood, bourbon, alcohol. The flavor is sweet and mild bitter with notes of cinnamon, cocoa, dark chocolate, wood, alcohol, bourbon. Medium to full-bodied.
Zwart bier met beige schuimkraag. Kaneel, bourbon, chocolade, vanille. Droog, bitter. Vol en boozy. Valt me wat tegen; de "normale" KBS is beter.
I remember a time when Founders' KBS was among America's most coveted craft beers and it was anything but simple back then to obtain a bottle of that liquid black gold especially here in Europe - with the CBS version being even more elusive. Times have changed in not so many years as young craft beer enthusiasts may be inclined to think, and ever since Founders was taken over by macro-brewing industrial Mahou, not only KBS and CBS have become among the most easily obtainable American stouts in western Europe: the brewery has even churned out a bunch of other variants in the meantime, one of which is this cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa flavoured iteration. Thick and frothy, plaster-lacing, fluffy, yellowish pale beige, stable head resting on a pitch black beer with only a very thin edge of burgundy red near the bottom. Strong aroma of sirop de Liège and even maple syrup (even if this is not CBS), cinnamon rolls, warm pancakes with melting brown sugar on them, milk chocolate, vanilla extract, reduced port sauce, lots and lots of toffee underneath the more volatile components, latté macchiato, donuts, almonds, brownies, pecan nuts, dried dates, bittersweet bourbon almost pushed to the background by the added ingredients but then coming back more forcefully, hints of wet clay, brown bread and beef stock faraway in the background. Sweet, dense onset, dates and candied pear, light sourish undertone, small-bubbled carbonation tingling on the tongue, very light touch of Maggi-like umami but the sweetness prevails; very oily, 'heavy' but still smooth mouthfeel. Thick toffeeish, caramelly, ovaltine- and milk chocolate-like maltiness fills the middle, with an odd mineral accent underneath; a coffeeish roasty bitter effect also lurks in the background, coming forward in the finish, where it meets the retronasal vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa - in that order, with the vanilla quite prominent, amplified of course by the natural vanilla-ish effect of the oak wood. The cocoa adds a bitter black chocolate note at the back; peppery hops help to establish balancing bitterness, but the roasted bitterness is more dominant, as it ought to be in a good strong stout. The added ingredients are there, but do not overpower, so we are not descending into full-fledged pastry stout territory here; instead the bourbon burns its way through the malts and aromatics, with a bittersweet effect that eventually does shift to a somewhat bothersome astringency in the end - making for a very boozy finish. Liquorish and clove accents surf on top of the booze and the nuttiness. Feels a bit less thick and rich than the original KBS I remember from at least a decade ago, which would account for the booze coming up more severely here; in all, still sumptuous and complex, but the body has thinned and the booze has a more burning effect than in the original version of the base beer, which I can only ascribe to the fact that owner Mahou has inflated production of this successful formula for commercial reasons. I do not know if everything was better in the old days as aged people tend to muse, but KBS was certainly better back then and this 'dressed up' version cannot hide that fact. Point off for that, but still a very solid American style 'impy' with a beguiling aroma for sure.