Founders Brewing Co.
Grand Rapids, MI
Available: MI, MN, WI, MO, IL, IN, OH, KY, VA, NC, SC, PA, NJ
Two university friends, who decided to abandon careers in video production and elementary school teaching in favor of brewing, opened Founders Brewing Co. After a few years, they dropped their initial, rather conventional craft beer line-up in favor of more unusual ingredients and styles.
ABV: 6.5
ABW: 5.17
Color: 48
Bitterness: 45
Original gravity: 1070
If you like chocolate and coffee, this beer’s for you. This rich, but silky-smooth porter’s got gobs of both, along with toffee, licorice stick, burnt toast, roasted almond and shoo-fly pie. Lingering, roasted malt finish.
Let’s quickly dispense with all the issues about what makes a proper porter; the label on this beer says “dark, rich & sexy,” which I think sums things up quite nicely. It’s definitely dark, and the aroma is as rich and sexy as that of any beer, with enticing notes of pure dark chocolate and espresso beans, Medjool dates and licorice root. The body is mouth-coating thanks to a little more potency than your average porter, and distinctly coffee-ish with generous lashings of earthy cocoa notes and hoppy bitterness, all ending in a lingering, smoked bitter chocolate finish. Sexy, indeed.
John Hansell is an equal-opportunity drinker. He writes about beer, wine and spirits. He is the creator, publisher and editor of Malt Advocate, a magazine for the whisky enthusiast.
Once described as “beerdom's Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel, and how it all goes together.
