Founders Backstage Series #4: Frangelic Mountain Brown

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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750mL bottle. Poured medium brown with an easily-resuscitated khaki head. The aroma picked up a whole bunch of hazelnut coffee and vanilla joined by lesser brown sugar and a touch of buttered popcorn.. came back to the sweet coffee and vanilla beans on the back of the nose. The flavor found light-moderately roasted hazelnut coffee throughout, again with vanilla beans and some other nutty notes accenting.. finished with lightly-roasted coffee, a bunch of nutty creamer, and a kiss of peppery alcohol. Medium-bodied and very sweet on the palate.. OK feel and flow.. after a few ounces it became a bit cloying and hard to drink.

Wow, this is a treat. Nice dark brown almost black pour with a good tan head. The nose is nutella! Hazelnuts, chestnuts, chocolate, coffee, light hints of anisette. The taste is high sweet and medium bitter. Texture is pretty smooth, body is heavy and the finish is long. Nice beer, really like it.

Sampled at DLD 2013. It poured a clear dark brown color with a tan head. The aroma was really sweet with a good amount toffee, caramel and a hint of coffee. The taste was a nice toasty front end with a slight chocolate and toffee finish. Very good.

About a year on this bottle, mostly clear dark brown color off white head. Fresh coffee and hazelnut nose, glorious. Medium body, good carbonation, caramel and toffee. Good stuff.

Brown color with a thin head. Strong hazelnut and roasty aroma. While the hazelnut is definitely the most prominent flavor, it doesn’t blow everything else apart. Solid chocolate and malty flavor as well. Just a pinch dry, but not much bitterness.

(bottle) Pours a clear reddish brown color with a medium sized light tan head that leaves substantial lacing. Aroma is a full blast of candied hazelnuts, chocolate, and Reese’s peanut butter cups. Just due to that alone I have to award it a 10. Underneath this layer of sweetness are some roasty scents from the coffee which provides a nice effect. Get an odd whiff of asparagus at times, but since I enjoy the vegetable, it’s not prompting me to decrease the score any. The flavor is somewhat of a letdown in comparison to the great aroma, but what’s there is still pretty solid. The brown ale character which was subdued in the aroma is more prominent here, and the malts really step forward. Some light toast shows up here before being completely consumed by the hazelnut flavor in the finish which lingers for quite awhile. Not much coffee character here to speak of, but there is a very slight acidity detected which I believe are remnants of the coffee (this bottle is almost a year old). Maybe some tootsie roll as well. Mouthfeel is not thick nor thin, the carb is a little high, and the abv is nowhere to be found. This drinks like a much smaller beer. Overall this beer has a great aroma and a decent flavor, but is not something I would want to seek out again.

Bomber - dark but not jet black with a light cream head and spotty lacing on the snifter glass. Coffee flavor up front with the hazelnut checking in on the back end. The mouthfeel could have been thicker but overall a very tasty brew!

Bottle. Dark brown red color thin tan head. Wonderful hazelnut coffee aroma. Smooth nutty coffee flavors. A great brown, complex yet simple.

This one was great! Thanks for sharing Omega(fuuuuuginnnn)X! It smelled like a creamy hazelnut coffee with a touch of vanilla. The taste was roasty as well with plenty of hazelnut, chocolate and subtle nuttiness that satisfied the palate quickly as the alcohol rushed in. Drink this one at cellar temp, as when it’s cold the flavors leave your mouth faster than an overpriced Italian hooker.

This is a cool brew. Nose is big time hazelnut and coffee, with a fresh vanilla and chocolate finish. Pour is dark black, with a light tan head. Flavor, again, is buttered popcorn, hazelnut, coffee, chocolate, slight roast, caramel, and vanilla. Very nice. Any coffee drinker would love this brew.