Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Kentucky Breakfast Stout, usually known as KBS, is an imperial stout brewed with coffee that is then aged in bourbon barrels for over a year.  Strong smelling, strong flavored, this is not a beer that fools around.  Founders releases it around April and it's pretty readily available during that time.  If you've had their Breakfast Stout, you have an idea of what to expect from the base beer even though they are different recipes.

The smell is just wow.  Bourbon, coffee, chocolate, wood, vanilla.  Just crazy complex.  Initially, possibly because it was too cold, the flavors were constantly fighting with each other.  First bourbon, then coffee, then roast with very few stops in between.  As it warmed up though the beer took on a life of its own.  All the flavors started blending together with a pleasant chocolate finish.  The bourbon is finally subdued by the other flavors and blends instead of taking over.  I left a bit in the glass for a while and it was even better.  This is definitely a sipper and I'd suggest waiting until the chill leaves it as it would be much more enjoyable.  Much, much better warm.  Definitely enjoyable on a cold Friday night but I hesitate to recommend it to anyone but the most devout of stout drinkers.  Very strong bourbon notes make it a tough sell.