Pours black into a snifter. Mocha head with excellent retention recedes to skim surface. Sweet chocolate fudge aromas. Thick with sweet bourbon, fudge, and maple syrup upfront turning to hot espresso, vanilla and oak in the lasting finish.

355ml bottle. Jet black colour with average to huge, thick, creamy, moderately to mostly lasting, moderately lacing, tan head. Intense, sweet-ish, chocolately, dark malty aroma, notes of dark chocolate, coffee, maple sirup, fudge, toffee, some nougat, caramel, vanilla. Taste is bitter, roasty, chocolately, dark and caramel malty, slightly alcoholic, notes of coffee, dark chocolate, dark caramel, some maple sirup, fudge, toffee, nougat, hazelnut infused white coffee, a combination of hoppy and roasty bitterness, late some oak, vanilla, bourbon; lingering finish shows no abatement of flavours, a minimally warming, alcoholic touch comes in on top. Oily to viscous texture, smooth and soft palate, minimally cloying palate, fine, soft carbonation. Rich and intense with very distinct flavours, no subtleties - outstanding.

Fles 35,5cl thuis. Chocolade, cappuccino, bourbon, eik, caramel fudge, zoetig, ahorn siroop, koffiedrab, vanille, licht lactose, oily, roasted malts, bittertonen, espresso. Goede balans. Erg lekker. (14-2-2021).

Special edition of Founders' famous KBS, brewed with coffee flavoured with Mackinac Island fudge (a well-known product of Mackinac Island in Michigan, where Founders is situated) and maple syrup and, of course, bourbon barrel aged - sounds quite original, and rather promising. Membrane-lacing, quite densely creamy, mocha-beige, rather thick and frothy but regularly shaped head resting on a pitch black beer with clear burgundy-reddish edges of about one millimeter wide. Rich, opulent aroma which puts a smile on my face instantly: coffee powder generously and thickly sprinkled over a chocolate mousse, pure caramel candy or indeed Mackinac fudge and lots of it, sweet bourbon, generous vanilla from the oak wood, cinnamon powder, espresso, molasses, lots of 'blood'-like iron but also actual metal (steel), chocolate macchatio, cold Irish coffee, maple syrup clearly peeping through but not quite as clearly as the fudge, subtler hints of dry tree leaves, bayleaf and old raisins. Dense, sweetish onset but nowhere too sticky, candied dates, fig, quite spritzy carbonation but in a very 'refined' way, if still adding minerally side effects, very full and oily body (though not exaggeratedly viscous and remaining quite slick); deeply caramelly maltiness with thick layers of (even milk) 'chocolateness' on top, but this metallic aspect from the nose returns at this point too, making for an iron-like 'zing' at the edges. Bittersweet core, more sweet than bitter (and more so than regular KBS), probably because the maple syrup does its thing as well; very aromatic coffee powder flavouring retronasally, adding a lovely delicate spiciness to a caramelly-fudge- and dark chocolate-like feel. Woody tannins remain relatively subtle, but the bourbon sure is obvious, with a vanilla-ish aspect and heating booze, even stinging for a brief moment in the end - but the heat is largely absorbed by the creaminess and thickness of the fudge and the malts, so everything remains firmly in place. Some hoppy pepperiness in the end, as well as roasty bitterness - but this latter effect seems to originate more from the added coffee than the actual roasted grains. An impressive construction, this beer is (sorry for suddenly sounding like Yoda now): layer upon layer of fudge, caramel, chocolate, coffee and bourbon is built, and this beer delivers exactly what it promises. The overall effect is that of a rich though still proportionally slender pastry stout, but the sweetness, even if very considerable, does not become unbearable and the roasty and metallic aspects bring un-pastry-like elements to the whole as well. This metallic aspect is perhaps a tad too strong, however, and overall this is not the most complex beer Founders ever made (even if seemingly intended that way), but this Mackinac Fudge variant does bring me back to that gloomy, frosty Christmas Eve of 2018, little more than three years ago, when I wrote my rating of the regular KBS here on this site. This February night is less gloomy but much colder than back then - so a fudge- and maple syrup-enhanced version seems all the more appropriate. A warming, soothing treat for sure, even if I still maintain that Founders has lost a lot of its appeal since the virtual takeover by that awful Mahou a few years ago...

Lots of dark chocolate, smooth, caramel, fudge, creamy, espresso/coffee, toasted malts, maple with some nutty flavors, no carbo, sweet/molasses, balanced stuff.