Founders KBS - Espresso
KBS gets its coffee fix in the very first variant to come from our beloved bourbon barrel-aged stout. Yes, KBS may already be brewed with coffee, but it gets some extra oomph when it’s aged on espresso beans after being removed from barrels. The result is a fresh and snappy coffee twist on our classic barrel-aged beer. Who says you can’t start your day with a barrel-aged stout?
4.1
300 reviews
Grand Rapids, United States
Community reviews
Liquide opaque, noir avec une mousse brune légère
Senteurs de vanille, de moka, de chocolat, de caramel et de bourbon
Attaque musclée, forte, sur le moka, le caramel et la vanille
Une dominante de chocolat et café vanillé du plus bel effet
Fin de bouche sur le café amer torréfié et le bourbon
Une stout avec du caractère, puissante qui en a sous le capot avec une belle complexité et une parfaite construction : une merveille à déguster tendrement et délicatement : on le sait, Founders fait toujours des merveilles dans leurs arrangements et là ils parviennent un tout de force, ce n'est pas pour rien qu'elle est notée 100, on est en présence d'une bière d'exception, une merveille ciselée avec perfection et amour du travail bien fait. En un mot, on se régale !
Félicitations Founders de nous offrir la KBS Espresso !!
Pours black into a tulip. Mocha head with good retention recedes to hug rim. Hot espresso and chocolate front to back. Hot lasting bourbon and vanilla finish.
Botella de 35,5 cl. Fecha de embotellado 10/09/2021. Color negro con ligera y un dedo de espuma. Aroma a café, bourbon, chocolate, vainilla, madera. Sabor a café, chocolate, bourbon, vainilla, caramelo. Cuerpo medio, equilibrada, cafetosa, alcohol bien oculto, deliciosa, excelente versión de la KBS original, muy buena.
Bottle from Dranken Vandewoude and drunk at home
Black beer lasting tan head .Big espresso coffee and dark chocolate aroma. Good coffee and chocolate flavours a touch of paper on aroma. Full in mouth full on finish. hides abv well. very good
355 ml, very dark color very little head, doesnt look like a beer. Chocolate, coffe, vainilla, milk, pepper, cinamon. Taste is too strong and too sweet. I know this is widely acclaimed, but oaked beer is just not for me.
Aus der Flasche (bottled 09.10.2021) im 2022-05 getrunken. Bei dieser Variante des KBS ist der Name im Aroma sofort sehr deutlich. Hier findet sich eine wunderbare Kaffeenote, die durch eine Süße die Bitterkeit der Röstaromen hervoragend balanciert. Ein tolles Stout!
Had this beer on tap with Patty, Erica and Ben for lunch. It pours a dark brown with a small head and an aromas of chocolate and coffee. The taste is sweet with a chocolate start and a nice coffee finish that is not that bitter but lingers in your mouth. The bourbon taste is mild and really not that noticeable.
14May2022 Dark roast malts, sweet coffee, dark chocolate, sweet oak, light bourbon. Hazy, very dark brown, small, frothy, off-white head. Light bitter. Dark roast malts, bourbon, chocolate, dark roast coffee, soft carb, full bod. Very nice, rich, intense. Bottle from Panda Bear HQ.
Panda 🐼 at home thanks to Colin. A dark mahogany brown black coloured pour with a decent tan head. Aroma is nice rich coffee, creamwoody roast, coconut, coffee bean, waxy, brown sugars. Flavour is composed of semi sweet, oily coffee, coconut, ashy roast, brown sugars, coffee bean,. Palate is medium sweet, oily, mellow carbonation, lingering spicy coffee bean. Reall nice.
A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 10th September 2021. Poured into a snifter glass. It was pitch black with a one finger tanned brown head that had good retention and left some nice lacing. Aromas lightly sweet, roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, chocolate milk, vanilla, bourbon, with oaky notes. Tastes lightly sweet, moderately bitter, roasty, coffee, dark chocolate, oak, vanilla, bourbon, and a nice long bitter finish. Smooth, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation. Overall, another interesting KBS variant, with lots of coffee and a nice bitter finish, but again, I still prefer the original KBS more.
Bottle at home, from Yards & Crafts online, 07/05/22.
Black with a good sized lasting tan cap.
Nose is coffee bean, mellow bourbon, chocolate, dark malts, roasted tones, toffee fudge.
Taste comprises mellow roast, balanced bourbon kiss, toffee, brown sugar melt, molasses trail, coffee bean, light spice, toffee crisp.
Full bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with a balanced rising boost.
Solid well balanced BA impy with a good spike of coffee.
Kolsvart med tunt beige skum. Doftar kaffe, choklad, maltigt. Smaken fyllig och söt. Eftersmaken lång, kaffe och choklad.
Botella de 355 ml de Tienda Solana online store (Madrid). 2021 release. Color negro intenso, buena capa de espuma marrón. Nada más verterla en la copa, aroma intenso a bourbon y chocolate. Al coger más temperatura, aparece el café, caramelo y la madera, con un ligero toque ahumado.
Sabor intenso, potente y sin embargo, equilibrado. Mucho chocolate negro, café y bourbon en su justa medida. Y post gusto también intenso, amarga y algo astringente.
Una deliciosa cerveza #barrelaged.
Had this beer on tap ad it pours a dark brown with a small head and an aroma of chocolate, coffee and alcohol. The taste is sweet with a chocolate start and a nice coffee finish that is not that bitter but lingers in your mouth. The bourbon taste is mild and really not that noticeable.
On tap @Treefolk's (Rome). Nera, densa, impenetrabile, schiuma abbondante color cappuccino, molto persistente. Al naso intense note di caffè e cioccolato fondente, vaniglia, botte. In bocca è rotonda, intensa, equilibrata, con attacco cioccolatoso e chiusura amara caffettosa. Corpo pieno, carbonazione media. Eccellente.
Bottle from Beerdome. Black with a dense and lasting light brown head. Aroma is sweet, roasted malt, heavy coffee and light bourbon. Flavor is quite sweet and rather bitter. Dry and rather bitter finish with warming alcohol. Oily and soft. 190322
Bottle from Craft Logic (then Brewcraft) at home. Had initially by itself then second bottle alongside 2022 Add Oil from Young Master. Initial impression of the KBS espresso on its own was a bit underwhelming. With so many amazing BA coffee imperial stouts I expected more from the KBS name. That said it is better on second taste, even next to the phenomenally good Add Oil. Pitch black pour with light tan head. Coffee and chocolate on the aroma, with booze and damp wood. Taste is more straightforward but good - rich coffee roast chocolate explosion with alcohol and leathery wood and dark fruit. Solid bitterness. Palate is rich and chewy but not too thick. Very well executed coffee stout - not as aggressive as the Add Oil, nor does it take as many risks with different coffee flavor profile. It’s very much “coffee”, rather than exhibiting different types of coffee flavors. Still very very good.
This is decent. I thought there would be a bit more to it but a first class imperial stout. A little too drinkable and not complex enough to make it a stunner.
Pours tar black with a brown soapy head. Aroma of bourbon, smoke, and coffee. Complex rich stout with notes of espresso, vanilla, mocha, and bourbon. Really nice.
Big black stout with beige head. Smells strong, roasted, Smokey and of spirits (bourbon). Tastes strong, of coffee, dark chocolate, roasted and smokey malts and spirits (bourbon). Very big flavoured and complex stout.
Drank on day 160 (5 months) with R. Pours an opaque dark brown-black with smooth tan head that settles into a fizzy foam. Aroma: tonnes of coffee, espresso beans, milk chocolate and dusty chocolate buttons, oat malt, bourbon spice in the background, some stoniness/pavement/mineral. Taste: coffee - more watery/less rich, more warming spice than in the nose, dark malt sharpness, some biscuity malt and banana. Body: medium, lively carbonation, finish is slightly watery/flat. Very good. Taste and palate don’t quite live up to the aggressive coffee of the aroma. Would happily get again.
Drank again alongside the Young Master Add Oil. Much less attention-grabbing than the Add Oil, less sweet and spicy and boozy. More classic. Coffee is chalky, bitter, medium roasty, dark. Spice more evident in the taste. At first it seemed boring compared to the Add Oil, but the more I sipped, the more I appreciated what this was doing — it’s more restrained but well executed. Finish is a bit thin in taste and body. Upgrading from 3.9 to 4.0.
Aroma is rich coffee. Chocolate mixed in there, but dominated by rich coffee.
Impenetrable black body. Nothing gets through, even with a backlight. Topped by a 1½ inch dark tan head, thick and creamy, with good retention leaving gorgeous lacing as it does recede.
The taste has the coffee dialed back just a bit, allowing the chocolate to come through more and for the bourbon and barrel to make an appearance. Well balanced flavors, with none of them overbearing; just a very well done interplay of coffee and chocolate with the bourbon playing a minor role adding to the mix, but very much a subtle touch. There is a light amount of bittering in the middle which continues through to the finish and aftertaste; more of a coffee-like bitter rather than from hops. The finish is on the dry-ish side.
The body is substantial, but hardly viscous.
Overall, a BBA coffee stout handled with both complexity and subtlety. An excellent mild winter evening sipper.
22 January 2022. Bottle from Gedeelde Vreugde. Bottled: 23/4/2020. Cloudy black, stable, frothy, dark beige head. Strong aroma of mocha, coffee grounds, milk chocolate, chocolate powder, dark fudge, prune, toast, brown bread, vague green apple, Irish coffee. Taste has sweet prune, date & (green) apple in a malt body of chocolate (powder), brown bread, peanut & chestnut; roasted notes of coffee and something umami. Earthy hoppy finish, more powerful bitter espresso, coffee powder, dark chocolate and some dried fruit, woody too due to the warming bourbon alcohol. Full body, oily texture, soft carbonation. A high-end coffee Stout so to say; utterly luxurious.
12oz bottle...my last one...and consumed by the fire on a Thurs night. Coffee black in color with minimal tan head. Aroma is big coffee notes with roasty, nuttiness present and a dark fruit coffee bean element. Taste leans into the espresso coffee notes with an aggressiveness seldom seen in the style. It's not out of balance but definitely embraces the bitterness of coffee beans more than sweetness. Some dark chocolate at the end with a mild fruitiness. Some hazelnut and caramel characteristics. Really enjoyable overall. Maybe a touch below the other KBS varieties and the O.G. but still quite delicious.
Bottle from Beer Hop, London. A black coloured pour with a decent beige head on top. Rich roasty, malty, chocolate, coffee bourbon aroma. Tastes similar rich, roasty, malty, chocolate, espresso coffee, bourbon. A very tasty imperial stout indeed.
Nalewa się czarne, z ładną beżową pianą, która opada do obrączki. W zapachu czarna kawa, espresso, kakao, trochę nut owocowych od tej kawy. W smaku kakao, czekolada, espresso, delikatna kwaskowość kawy, całość w wytrawną stronę. Alko w smaku nie czuć, niestety wiele beczki też nie. Ogólnie czwórka z plusem.
Pours dark black with a tan head, boozy aroma and taste, light espresso taste that is quite bitter, not one of the best KBS's, bottle.
Decent beer. I admit I’m a little tired of all the different KBS beers. It’s like a movie. You love the original, the sequel is pretty good but as release after release come out you start to get bored with the franchise. Aroma was actually pretty thin for such a big beer. Smelled like a melted Special Dark bar. All dark chocolate. Pout was a deep dark brown/near black with a thin tan film for a head. Taste was very sweet and cloying. The rich dark chocolate flavors were there and the espresso finally made an appearance mid sip. The finish was all milk and dark chocolate and sweet maple syrup. Could use some hops to balance out the sweetness, but that’s not what KBS does. Little to no carbonation
wszystkie KBSy to żwawa legenda, wszystkie udają się świetnie, ten chyba najbardziej kawowy, bardzo tradycyjny, rasowy
Draught @ City Swiggers, 2020 edition. Opaque dark brown, almost inky, very small frothy chocolate head, low carbonation, mocha aroma, mildly bitter chocolate-mocha taste, alcohol aftertaste, smooth thin body, long chocolatey finish. The high abv has the consequence of leaving an alcohol taste in your mouth.