KBS

During a recent trip to the ol' US of A, I effected a bold beer swap with the solid and courageous MM. To her went some of my favourite Ontario brews, and my way came some of her preferred American suds. One of those was KBS, a stout flavoured with chocolate and coffee. According to the Founders Brewing Co., of Grand Rapids, Michigan, this 2016 release of KBS is bourbon barrel aged and "is good for everything a flavo[u]red stout ought to be good for." No percentage was listed on the bottle, but KBS was clearly strong (the website told me it was actually 12.4% with 70 IBUs!!!).

Scent-wise, the beer was woody and sweet, with cocoa notes. The flavour was extremely full-bodied and wildly boozy, with notes of oak, chocolate, and java providing an assertive blend. The finish was quite bitter, but not enough to surmount the boozy sweetness that lasted from uncapping to finishing the ale. It had a very thick and syrupy mouthfeel.

 

As someone who spent a little bit of time working in government, I found the lack of explanation of the "KBS" acronym unbelievably frustrating, but I enjoyed the beer all the same. This beer was way too sweet to revisit in the short term, but I'd be glad to sip it again during the winter months. It wasn't my favourite strong stout, but I liked it well enough to revisit. The coffee notes could certainly have been stronger, but this sweet and potent Imperial stout was still pretty decent.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.