Founders CBS Imperial Stout
22oz bottle poured into matching Founders snifter. Appearance: Looks like dark roast black coffee, with a corresponding frothy mocha head of 1.5 fingers. Head has nice staying power, largely thanks to glass's nucleation point. Lacing leaves a pretty brown on the sounds of the glass. About perfect. Smell: Bourbon, chocolate, and coffee. No noticeable maple on the nose, but it otherwise smells fantastic. Taste: So much going on here bourbon, coffee, roasted malts, chocolate. The maple mostly makes its presence known on the backend, and it leaves a wonderful taste in the mouth that makes you yearn for the next sip. Every sip gives you something a little different. Mouthfeel: Full bodied, good carb, very silky and smooth in the mouth. The alcohol blends beautifully and provides no burn. Drinkabilty: Really high. As soon as you finish one sip, you want another. Overall: The rare beer that truly lives up to the hype. It's nearly perfect - the lack of maple in the nose is the only thing holding me back from perfect 5's across the board. All of that said, it's only a baby step ahead of KBS. Given the difficulty of acquisition, I'm happy to have tried a bottle but I will be sticking with regular KBS in the future unless more CBS falls into my lap.