A Whale A Week: KBS 2012

A Whale A Week is my attempt to taste a rare beer every week over all of 2015, while sharing the judging and tasting with a variety of beer loving friends. This week we go with another famed Imperial: Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout!

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2012

When I first started thinking about doing this series of reviews, one of the big beers in my cellar that I kept thinking about was this one.  I inherited my bottle in a cellar buy-out so at least I didn't have to wait in lines or scour liquor stores during the one day they release the beer.  I have been happy that Minnesota has been getting a small portion of this beer for the past few years, so at least we have a chance to find this rare beer here.

The very first coffee beer I ever tried was Founders Breakfast Stout.  I can remember the place and time with some clarity: sitting at a table with my family in Champaign, Illinois at the restaurant Radio Maria.  Having never heard of Founders at the time, I ordered this 8.3% ABV Russian Imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate to pair with my coffee encrusted filet of beef.  Angels sang for me on that day.  So when I discovered that there was a stronger (11.2%) similar beer aged in bourbon barrels, I felt my heart pick up a little.  Over the past few years I have tried this near-mythical beer a few times at bottle shares, and once almost by accident, on tap at The Nomad.  I did get a chance to visit Founders during NHC last year in Grand Rapids, and that place is amazing!  No Kentucky Breakfast Stout on tap for us then though...

So KBS, as this beer is affectionately called by in-the-know beer geeks, is quite hard to find and sought-after.  On the day of this testing, I had a couple of friends over to practice their BJCP tasting skills for an upcoming test they were both taking.  With the beers blinded, we went through a terribly oxidized beer from 1998, to a Surly Abrasive, and then I sprung the KBS on them telling them only the style of beer.  Now barrel aged beers are never on the real BJCP tasting exam, I thought this would be a way for them to stretch their tasting and description skills, while also getting a good review of a rare beer without the hype associated with that beer.  Like being punked--but in a good way!  I have posted these using the 50 point BJCP scoring since that was our method.  So Tyrone (already a Recognized beer judge) and Annette Babione (trying to keep up with or surpass her husband) helped me out with this review, and I was pretty impressed with how they did...

Aroma:
Eric: Very sweet maltiness.  Cinnamon, light roast coffee.  Some zing from alcohol on the nose.  Roasted malt and baker's chocolate as swirled.  Hint of cream?  Oaky tannic aroma, possibly some oxidation as it warms up. 10/12
Tyrone: Vanilla leaps out of the glass, immediately followed by dark roasted coffee.  Pervasive alcohol warmth intermingles between these two flavors.  Prune aroma finishes the bouquet.  No hop aromatics.  No other fruity esters.  Slightly sharp grain alcohol emerges after warming.  Roasted malts emerge after opening up.  Slighty toasted coconut.  9/12
Annette: Roasted, almost burnt malt character.  Hint of soy sauce.  No hops detected.  Almost solventy in the nose.  Smells like burnt toast trying to be covered with coffee or a bitter chocolate.  Slight sherry. 6/12

Appearance:
Combined: Black and nearly opaque.  Tan head almost non-existent, with fine bubbles. 2/3

Flavor:
Eric: Semi-sweet dark chocolate is the dominant flavor to my palate.  Some vanilla and cinamon as the taste lingers on the tongue.  Finish is mildly astringent with a burnt coffee edge to it.  Balance slightly to the bitter side.  Lots of roasted dark malts in this.  I get some vegetal flavor as it warms up that detract from the overall enjoyment.  No hop flavors.  No real esters.  16/20
Tyrone: Chocolate is predominant flavor.  Medium-high bitterness.  No hop flavor.  Moderately high oak/wood stiffens the malt backbone to contrast the bitterness.  Evenly balanced with a slight edge to the malt in the finish--although the bitterness persists and builds on the back of the tongue with a dry aftertaste.  Clean fermentation.  Malt flavor is primarily dark roast mixed with a coffee roast. 17/20
Annette: Heavy roast flavor that sticks to the roof of your mouth.  No hop flavor detected.  Light hop bitterness.  Light notes of chocolate and coffee.  Balance is toward the malt with a warm finish and chocolate aftertaste.  Almost like a chocolate soda. 14/20

Mouthfeel:
Eric: Body is medium to thick.  Slightly creamy at the start of the sip.  End is a bit bitter and astringent.  Carbonation is a bit low.  Some warming in throat from alcohol. 4/5
Tyrone: Medium-low carbonation.  Moderate alcohol warming, bordering on boozy.  A mild creaminess with no astringency.  Moderately heavy weight body with medium viscosity.  No other palate sensations. 5/5
Annette: Full body with lower carbonation.  Warmth from alcohol detected.  Hint of creamy.  Light astringency detected. 4/5

Overall:
Eric: Complex and interesting.  I keep trying it for new flavors over time.  Improves as it warms up.  Coffee is very subtle and comes off more burnt than fresh.  Booze present but well integrated into beer than when fresh. 7/10
Tyrone:  Although the alcohol borders on hot, it avoids crossing over that line and maintains a wonderful alcohol warmth, while providing excellent bitterness to cleanse the palate--preventing the malt, wood, and coffee flavors from becoming overpowering.  Great example of the style, although malt profile could benefit from more complexity to avoid muddy flavoring. 8/10
Annette:  Overall this was a decent example.  The roast hinted toward the acrid or burnt, but the alcohol didn't burn or become hot.  The barrel melded the flavors well, but it was a little too acrid for personal taste.  However, coffee and chocolate notes had high redeeming qualities... 7/10

Total scores were:
Eric: 39/50
Tyrone: 42/50
Annette: 33/50

Wrap-up:
Overall I think we all picked up on the same aromas and flavors, but our personal tastes factored into it.  It was interesting experiment to give a rare and highly publicized beer to blinded judges and get an honest review of it.  Tyrone liked it the most, Annette the least.  I fell in the middle, even knowing what beer we were dealing with--partly because I have had this fresh or one year old and loved it more that this sample.  I felt that the coffee flavor had faded a lot and turned to a more burnt and acrid flavor than when fresher.  Upshot is to not age this beer longer than 2 years if you can help it!  Still a great beer, but less than it used to be.

Now that I have climbed the mountain and tried this whale, where can I go now?  Oh, wait, Founders makes a beer called Canadian Breakfast Stout?  Aged in bourbon barrels and maple syrup barrels?  What?  Good, now I have something even more rare and precious to stalk...

NHC Day 3: 4 More Michigan Breweries!

Day 3 of our trip to Michigan for the 2014 NHC started way too early in the morning for me!  Sj and I had to grab coffee and head down to a different hotel lobby and meet up with our second bus tour group.  This group was a little bigger and was going to take us to four of the bigger breweries in Michigan.  No problem, we had done 6 breweries yesterday, we could handle four more!

Our first stop was to be at Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter, Michigan, about a 2 hour drive from Grand Rapids.  The brewery has only recently moved locations and does not currently have a tasting room at the brewery itself.  We were actually to be their first official tour and since they were still working on things they did not want us to take pictures.  As a result I have no visual proof I was there, but plenty of good memories!  Since they were not able to serve us beers, our tour guides poured us small samples (for a $5 fee) into plastic cups.  Anyone who has had Jolly Pumpkin beers before knows that they are quite effervescent and combined with a moving vehicle and small cups this process got messy!  We sampled some foamy cups of these great sour and wild ales as the bus continued the trek to the small town of Dexter.  When we arrived in town our bus suddenly slowed as it neared a low arched stone bridge.  Wait a second...there was no way we were getting the bus through that!  With images of our bus stuck under a bridge like Winnie the Pooh stuck in the honey tree, we waited to see what would happen.  At this point a huge line of cars was stuck behind us and there was no where to go.  One of our tour guides hopped off the bus to go under the bridge and scout out how far away the brewery was--if it was close we could all walk while the bus driver figured things out.  It wasn't that close!  Eventually one of our tour group jumped off to start directing traffic and give us room to reverse.  A kind stranger stopped his car and offered to lead us through some back roads (some unpaved dirt!) to the brewery.  This was shaping up to be an adventure!  But time was wasting and there were breweries to visit!

Finally we arrived in an out of the way industrial park.  The brewery is not incredibly well marked at this point, but we figured it out!  Jolly Pumpkin actually shares a building with the North Peak Brewing, separated into separate halves to decrease the chance of cross contamination with wild bacteria.  Right away we were taken in two separate groups, ours led by owner/brewer Ron Jeffries, and the other by another of the brewers.  The large building is very industrial and utilitarian--not the most photogenic (even if I could take pics!) of breweries I've been to.  The number of wooden barrels and mish-mash of foedors, however, was amazing!  Ron was quiet and somewhat soft spoken, but was one of the most informative and educational tour guides I have ever had.  I learned a lot about his sour beer production techniques and history in a short period of time.  Having recently been to Belgium and The Night of Great Thirst sour beer festival, this was really a cool tour!  The brewery opened in 2004 and was the first brewery to use the "Artisan Ales" moniker.  It is the only brewery to use only all wood fermentation.  Our tour actually took longer than expected, but trust me, no one was going stop Ron from telling us all great stories of the early days of craft brewing!  He gathered several cool beers for us to sample on the bus and sent us on our merry way. 

Ron Jeffries telling us tales!

We tried several of the beers, including some from North Peak, on the longish trip to our next brewery.  My favorite by far was the La Roja which I haven't had in years since Jolly Pumpkin stopped distributing in Minnesota.  This is a very tart and complex version of a Flanders Red, that tastes more like the expensive and rare  Rodenbach Vintage ale than the sweeter Rodenbach Grand Cru.  One of our poor tour guides ended up getting "bus sick" from walking back and forth trying to pour us beer.  While on the bus our tour guide got word from Dark Horse that their power had just gone out--trouble just kept haunting this trip!

Eventually we arrived at Dark Horse Brewing in Marshall, MI.  I've been a fan of Dark Horse beers for years and was very excited to check out this brewery.  Luckily the power had returned and our quest for beer was not stymied!  Our tour was large and the tour had limited size, resulting in us splitting our group in half.  Sj and I, as well as Denise and Ron (a really nice couple from the Twin Cities) found ourselves in the brewpub first.  The space is small, with reclaimed doors as tables and tons of old posters on the walls.  Classic folk and rock music played over the loud speakers.  The entire low ceiling of the pub was lined with multicolored ceramic mugs, giving this place a close, but homey and rustic feel.  I wish I lived close and could have my own unique mug here!  While waiting for our tour I had some really good chili and sipped on the hoppy Smells Like a Safety Meeting.  I'm sure there is a good story behind the name for that beer!

Dark Horse is one of the more unusual breweries I've been to.  The pub itself is actually attached to a family owned store.  Outside there is a new outdoor biergarten, but it started raining the second we passed through that.  Next to the brewery are small buildings featuring a Harley shop and the General Store.  The General Store sold homebrew supplies, Dark Horse merchandise and skateboard supplies.  We eventually went on the tour for an extra $10.  There seemed to be a lot of unusual decorations (life sized Jack Skellington hanging over the bottling line, a fish tank table in the pub), and re purposed materials in use.  Everywhere there was something new to look at.

More than meets the eye!

We eventually ended up in a small but hot upstairs tasting room, where we had 6 samples included in our tour fee.  This was pretty cool since we were able to try some smaller batch stuff not on tap downstairs in the pub.  There was a disgusting cherry beer, but also an amazing maple aged brown ale and the bourbon barrel aged Plead the 5th Stout.  We chugged these down fast and headed back to our bus.  Overall this was probably my favorite brewery of the day, with a true independent spirit and vibe notable throughout everything these guys do!

Perfect timing!

Our next stop was back to Bells Eccentric Cafe.  This stop had been included on the previous day's tour so I'm glossing over it here!  Having had the two samplers yesterday we knew what beers we wanted right away.  I had one of experimental hop beers and Sj tried the Baroness--a Munich Dunkel.

As a finish to our tour we were dropped at Founders Brewing right in Grand Rapids.  With thousands of homebrewers converging on the city around now, the place was insane!  I was a bit disappointed that we didn't have any tour organized.  My thoughts on the tour for this day were less than perfect.  Now, while some of the issues (Winnie the Pooh) maybe couldn't have been foreseen, other things could.  I think that these tours would do well to include the price of the Dark Horse tour and the extra Jolly Pumpkin beer into the base price.  I don't mind paying, but I don't want to get nickel and dimed during the tour.  I also think that a longer stop midway for lunch would be ideal.  Trying to wolf down chili before our tour of Dark Horse was possible, but would not have been if I'd ordered something more complex.  Also I signed up for a tour of 4 places but could have walked to Founders from my hotel...Still a fun day and getting to hang with Ron, Denise, Wendy, Dave, and Mike Sutor was well worth it!

With the nutty crush of humanity and lack of seating at Founders, we decided to forgo the stress and just walked back to the hotel and had dinner across from our hotel at Z's.

Later we were invited to a small party upstairs at Founders by one of our friends and I did finally get to enjoy their great beers!  They actually had a special Juniper Rye ale brewed in collaboration with my friend Chris German on tap, and that was by far the best Juniper beer I've ever had.  I also really loved the smooth low gravity Oatmeal Stout and would love to buy some of that for drinking at home!  Founders is one of my favorite craft breweries and I really love what they do.  Thanks!

Super secret upstairs bar at Founders!

Up Next: NHC Day 4!

Butcher & The Boar Founder's Beer Dinner 2013

Having recently blogged about Butcher & The Boar, I had not planned on returning them to print for a while.  However, after their beer dinner last night, I feel obligated to spread the gospel of the amazing food and Founders beer we experienced.  My wife and I have been to a LOT of beer dinners, and only one in all that time was not great.  But sometimes a dinner just "clicks" and everything works synergistically to elevate the event to become more than its component parts should justify.  The first Butcher & The Boar beer dinner was one such event.

Our story begins about two months ago at the Great Lakes/Fulton Happy Gnome Beer Dinner.  At that amazing dinner we found ourselves sitting at table with the Owner/Chef and the Ciccerone from Butcher & The Boar, who were doing "research" on how to run their own beer dinner.  At that time Sj got the inside scoop about when the dinner was supposed to take place, but official word on the event was slow to come.  Sj did a great job of Facebook-stalking the restaurant until they quietly announced the dinner--getting us in right away.  This was a very small dinner, limited to about 25 people and filled up incredibly fast, so I feel fortunate to have been able to attend.  Even getting regular seating at the restaurant can be a challenge, and since Chef Jack Riebel has been nominated for a James Beard Award this year, that can only get more difficult.  A good problem to have for a fairly young restaurant!

We arrived at the restaurant after an epic hour of crawling along in rush-hour traffic from Waconia to Minneapolis.  Pulling up into the valet parking lot, one can see the beautiful Adam Turman mural along the entire wall of the restaurant.  We then were directed to a small and slightly sketchy two-person elevator to drop us into the newly opened basement crypts for the inaugural beer dinner.  Off to the left, we entered a small and cozy basement bar, filled with rich wood paneling and comfortable leather chairs.  The bar itself fits that theme, also of shiny wood with a treated leather top.  We were greeted by Ben, the Ciccerone (beer sommelier) for the restaurant, who poured us large glasses of the not-yet-released-in-Minnesota All Day IPA.  The beer is a great sessionable hoppy ale that was created mainly because the owners of the brewery wanted to be able to drink their own beers at home and not fall asleep before their children did. Upon the bar was a sausage and cheese platter as well as turkey liver pate to tide us over until the main event.  If they added a small gas fireplace to the room, I would probably never want to leave. 

More and more people arrived, including our friends Randy and Andrea whom we have met through Happy Gnome and Town Hall beer dinners.  Most of the diners were involved in the beer industry, so it was cool to hob-nob with them.  Michael, Alvey and Bryan from the Four Firkins were there, the latter two dressed in suits and fancy hats.  Always cool to see those guys, but strangely out of context!  Several of the folks from Fulton Brewery were there as well, staying involved in the local craft beer scene.  Where is my bottled War and Peace guys?  Former local craft beer distributor Corey Shovein has recently been hired by Founders and was lively and entertaining as always.  Brewery co-founder Dave Engbers was also present and made it a point to get to know everyone in attendance.  At first he seemed a bit reserved, but after he told us a few stories that impression was dismantled quite completely. 

This way to the subterranean torture chamber?  No, just the bar!

Next we moved down the hall past some industrial equipment, into a newly refurbished intimate dining room.  The walls were textured concrete with a deep copper staining that kept the area feeling close and rich.  The ceiling was bare concrete with piping and a more industrial basement feel, but had new light fixtures to soften it up a bit.  Marble topped tables were arranged close together in two rows for us to sit at.  I liked the tight quarters, as it allowed us to talk to the folks at neighboring tables with ease, but I'm guessing our servers were less thrilled with it!  Along one wall was a large bank vault style door the led to some other mysterious recess of the basement.  We were quickly served a small sample of the Founders Oatmeal stout served on nitro; paired with an amuse of a single lightly roasted oyster on the half shell.  I wanted more of each!  Dave said that this is the first time he had sampled that beer outside of their own taproom in Michigan.

The first course was a pheasant and rabbit terrine with veal sweetbreads, served along with some curried quick-pickled cauliflower and other veggies.  I really dislike cauliflower but I can quite honestly say that this was the best I have had in my life.  Terrines are basically a meat log made of the cast-off iffy bits of animals, held together by fat and gelatin, then sliced and served.  Sounds freaky and questionable, but done right the flavors in them can be outstanding.  This was one of the best I have ever had--and I'm the guy that always orders the charcuterie plate whenever possible.  The plate was paired with the Red's Rye PA, a beer that I loved when it first came out, but have had mixed experiences with since.  Apparently Founders has been having some issues with the Amarillo hop character dropping out too quickly, leaving the beer a bit too sweet, which explains my last underwhelming tasting of this beer.  They have just moved it to a seasonal tap only release schedule to keep the beer fresher and to better control the quality.  I think that is a good move and really enjoyed this fresh version of the beer again.

Dave sharing great stories with the class!

As an aside, shortly after starting this dinner, Corey and Dave told us an anecdote that changed the whole tone of the evening.  But in a good way!  Apparently an inebriated and heavily accented east-coast fan of the brewery had recently left a very long and rambling phone message in which he lovingly and repeatedly listed off his favorite Founders beers, followed by saying "F*@!# off!"  I know, this sounds wrong, but it was all in the inflection--making this a high compliment of sorts.  That message quickly made its way through all the employees like an uncontrolled wild fire and the next day in the brewery everyone was quoting it.  After hearing this rather aggressively told story, as well as having some great beers in us by then, the whole room seemed to relax and open up.  For the rest of the night the whole crowd continued to use that line as a very strange but hilarious toast.

Our second course was a squash bisque with sweet maple croutons and hog jowl bacon.  The mix of sweet and savory in the dish was perfect, with extra texture from the crunchy croutons adding complexity to the simple soup.  The beer going along with this was the malty and sweet Dirty Bastard Scotch ale, and actually seemed dryer and easier to drink than usual when paired with this sweeter dish.  This is the beer that saved the brewery from bankruptcy.  After unsuccessfully trying to brew more accessible beers, the founders decided to brew a high alcohol unusual beer that they would want to drink themselves.  And the rest is history!

As the evening went on we found ourselves sipping increasingly strong ales, the ABV creeping up from 4.6% to 6.6% to 8.5%.  Then the BIG beers started to show up!  The next beer was Curmudgeon (clocking in at 9.8% ABV), an old ale that was very drinkable and complex, even when fresh.  I have tasted a three year old version of this that was even better and recommend aging one for a bit.  The dish paired up with the Curmudgeon was a perfectly prepared pan roasted sturgeon served atop a smoked butter, raisin and pickled cabbage concoction.  Our table decided that this pairing was the best of the night, with both the beer and the fish improving when tasted together.

By this time the arrival of each new beer and dish was being greeted with an increasingly raucous round of "F*&#$ Off!" But delivered in a respectful and loving tone I promise! Our next big beer was the 10.2% ABV Backwoods Bastard, the bourbon barrel big brother of Dirty Bastard.  This was the best beer of the night by far, but I'm a sucker for bourbon.  The food for this round was simply amazing and the serving size enormous.  Prior to our dinner, Founders had sent the restaurant one of the Heaven Hill bourbon barrels that had briefly housed the Backwoods Bastard.  This barrel was dismantled and the bourbon and beer infused staves were used to smoke one of the most tender briskets I've ever had the pleasure to taste.  Served with a spicy sausage and the best cheesy grits you are likely to find north of the Mason-Dixon Line, this dish was incredibly satisfying and outrageously filling.

So Good!

By desert the small room was echoing with the music of laughter, shouts, "F%$# Off's", and loud conversation.  Bellies were filled to capacity, even before the arrival of the impressively green grasshopper pie, and Dave made sure to tell us that it was only a wafer thin.  Gotta love Monty Python humor!  I'm not a huge fan of mint and I was feeling a bit overstuffed by that point so I didn't eat much of it.  They also served us up both the 2012 and 2013 versions of the Founders Imperial Stout, so that became my favored desert.

For a first beer dinner I think Butcher & The Boar did an amazing job.  The combination of the attentive staff, intimate setting, incredible food and beer, and wonderful company combined to make this a near perfect event.  It was not a cheap dinner, but I feel that I received an experience that made this trip more than worth the price of entry.  I will certainly be setting Sj back on Facebook-stalk mode to make sure we can get into future dinners!  Make sure to check out this restaurant if you can get in.  And drink some Founders beers too!  They make one of the most consistently good portfolios of craft beers around and I can wholeheartedly agree with their biggest foul-mouthed fan:  "F&$#@ Off!  This is so awesome!"