The Story

I never paid much mind to the craft beer scene until I lived on the west side of the state of Michigan. There are plenty of breweries all over the state, but the culture of craft beer is way different over there. Chances are you’ve cracked open a longneck of Bell’s Two Hearted or maybe an Oberon. How about a Founder’s Dirty Bastard or an All Day IPA?

Then you’ve had beer from West Michigan. And it’s really good. Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Muskegon all have a handful of breweries with varying levels of popularity. One that seems to always be on the national radar however is Founder’s Brewing Co., and that’s because their beer is incredibly delicious. When I lived in downtown Grand Rapids my apartment was about a mile away from the taproom, and we would go there about once per week to grab a beer or two and get some food. And even then, it took a while to run out of options – they have a healthy lineup of different brews that are unique in their own right.

My favorites were always the stouts. So when I heard that Bardstown Bourbon Co. had just released a collaboration with Founder’s Brewing Co, I knew I had to at least try it out. Call me biased, but I know what Founder’s is capable of, and I know what BBC puts out is great too. I felt like this bottle was a no brainer to grab.

Thankfully we were able to snag one from our local store, which was hard to do (it sold out in a matter of a day or two). People around here are very familiar with Founder’s, and we have a healthy number of beer drinkers in our state, so it makes sense that they would be after the bottle as well.

According to the producer, this bottle features a 10-year aged Tennessee bourbon which is then finished for 15 months in Founder’s KBS Stout Barrels, and clocks in at 110 proof. 

KBS stands for ‘Kentucky Breakfast Stout’, which is an imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate and then bourbon barrel-aged. According to BBC’s press release, the day the barrels are emptied in Grand Rapids, they are filled with bourbon in Bardstown. 

Okay enough backstory. Let’s get into the bourbon!

Nose

On the nose we get some dark brown sugar, coffee, chocolate, hazelnut and a touch of oak.

Palate

The palate starts off sweet and features that brown sugar upfront with a touch of caramel, some nuttiness and a hint of soy sauce.

Finish

The finish is medium in length and reintroduces those chocolate and coffee notes we detected on the nose. Being huge fans of Founder’s Brewing ourselves, we immediately detected those signature Founder’s Breakfast Stout notes that linger on the tongue for a long period of time.

Verdict

BBC’s KBS collaboration bottle retails in our state for $159.99 and that’s exactly the MSRP that Bardstown Bourbon Co. sets for this bottle. Being price conscious we understand that an $160 price tag is a bit steep, but we think this bottle delivers on value, so we’re giving it a buy rating. If you are a bourbon drinker, we think you will thoroughly enjoy it. If you are a craft beer drinker, you’ll enjoy it even more, and might be one of your go-to bottles in that beer-and-bourbon mash-up space. As faithful Founder’s fans here in the state of Michigan this bottle is a bit special as it brings the notes of our favorite stouts that we’ve come to know and love.

We would say that the value of this bottle is right at that $160 MSRP, but if it’s a little more expensive in your area, we think going up to $175 would still be reasonable.

Overall, we’re giving Bardstown Bourbon Company’s KBS Founder’s Collaboration an 8.8 out of 10 for its deep chocolate and coffee notes, balanced sweet flavors, and so elegantly bridging that gap between craft beer and premium bourbon.

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Cheers friends!