96- Frangelic Mountain Brown

NLT- After a 21 month hiatus due to our adorable son Andrew, and back by popular demand, John and I have decided to resume our quest to try 99 unique beers! Frangelic Mountain Brown was the perfect beer to lure us back to blogging. I have had a lot of coffee beers in my time- but this one is by far the best. Now if you have ever heard people describe a flavor as "syrupy" but wondered how that is even possible, taste this beer and you will get it. It tastes like a latte with hazelnut syrup- as I said to John, work in a coffee shop and you will get it. This beer was flavorful, yet somehow, still light on the palate. The coffee taste was far from bitter and while the hazelnut was definitely present it did not overwhelm. I couldn't get enough of this and was a little disappointed John and I had to share our 750 mL bottle of this Founders Brewing Co beer. The biggest surprise of all was that despite it being a “coffee beer” it was perfect for a warm summer day!   

JFT- Founders brewery is one of the finest in the country and while this doesn't match up against their flagship, KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout), it is still a fascinating version of an American Brown Ale. The nose pops you with the sugary nutty sweetness you smell when you walk into a Buddy Squirrel but on the palate the sweet is cut by the coffee. Most brewers make sure that when they incorporate coffee into a beer it is an unmistakable (and often unbalanced) note. Frangelic used a subtle hand and had it play off the hazelnut and let the nuttiness be the star instead of the other way around. I kept waiting to find some sort of hoppy flavors on the back of my tongue but it never showed up. I never thought I would find such joy in something that had no hops. Only a few cases of this beer made it into the state this year, and it's long gone now, and I am super glad I still know a guy in the industry.

http://foundersbrewing.com/latest-news/2012/frangelic-mountain-brown-is-our-next-backstage-release/