The latest release in the Founders Backstage Series is their Frangelic Mountain Brown, an American Brown Ale brewed with hazelnut flavored coffee. I’m always intrigued to try anything new in their series, and while I really have no interest in basic Brown Ales, the addition of the flavored coffee is enough to get my attention. Never having had Founders’ take on a Brown Ale and always enjoying their products, I’m intrigued to see how this turns out.

From the capped Belgian-style 750 ml bottle, Frangelic pours with a medium brown, mahogany colored body touched by some maroon hues in the light. A very bubbly light beige head forms and does stick around for some time. After, a thin retention ring is left behind with minor splotchy lacing. It’s certainly lighter overall than expected for the style.

The aroma offers lots of fresh coffee beans, hazelnuts, almonds and some dark roasted malts. It smells very inviting, having a bit of cream and sugary sweetness in there as well. Initially on the palate there’s a lot of hazelnut flavor, along with a strong coffee component. The malts intertwined rather nicely and helped balance out what little sweetness was here. Nothing overboard but really almost a one-dimensional beer. The feel could use some help – a lot thinner than expected and on the lower end of medium-body when a beer of this nature should be a bit more robust. There’s virtually no detection of the 9% ABV which was nice.

While this started out really great and flavorful, I quickly became bored with it. Perhaps 12 ounces was just enough, as I did finish it, but it didn’t make me want more. A nice beer with plenty of hazelnut and coffee, just a bit of a stale, unexciting profile in the end.

Rating

80
out of 100