The 'stout is a winter beer' rule is made up. Dark, roasty, and complex beers deserve year-round appreciation. Here are seven stouts actually worth your money.
The seasonal gatekeeping of stouts is one of the dumbest conventions in beer culture. Yes, a warming 11% imperial stout in August feels aggressive. But a dry Irish stout? A session milk stout? A well-made oatmeal stout? These are year-round pleasures that deserve more than three months of visibility.
Here are seven stouts worth your attention, ranging from sessionable to apocalyptically strong.
If you've never had a beer poured on nitrogen — the same gas that gives Guinness its cascade and silky mouthfeel — Left Hand's Milk Stout Nitro is the ideal introduction. The nitrogen dispense turns this already excellent milk stout into something almost dessert-like: chocolate, coffee, subtle sweetness, and a mouthfeel that's more like velvet than beer.
ABV: 6% | Availability: Nationwide | Rating: 94/100
Best feature: You can pour it at home from the bottle using their patented widget technology. Flip the bottle upside down, shake, pour. It works.
The one that started it all for most of us, and still one of the best when served correctly. The difference between a well-poured Guinness at a good Irish bar and a badly poured one at a random sports bar is enormous. When it's right — proper cascade, tight head, served at 42°F — it's one of the great drinking experiences in the world.
ABV: 4.2% | Availability: Everywhere | Rating: 88/100
The ideal Guinness moment: early afternoon, a Dublin pub that's been there 150 years, newspaper in hand. The second ideal moment: anywhere, anytime, after a long day.
Bourbon County is the beer that legitimized barrel-aged imperial stouts as a category. Released every Black Friday, it's been setting benchmarks since 1992. The base version — aged in bourbon barrels for a year — delivers vanilla, oak, chocolate, and caramel in waves. The variants (Coffee, Barleywine, Proprietor's) are worth chasing separately.
ABV: ~14.7% (varies by year) | Availability: Black Friday release, limited | Rating: 97/100
Strategy for finding it: join the Goose Island email list, check your local craft beer shop's social in November, and don't wait — it goes fast.
Coffee and chocolate barrel-aged imperial stout with an avid cult following. KBS drinks with more coffee-forward character than Bourbon County and is slightly easier to find. The spring release (April typically) means you're drinking one of the world's best dark beers while everyone else is reaching for lagers. Maximum contrarian satisfaction.
ABV: 12.2% | Availability: Midwest-heavy, growing nationally | Rating: 96/100
From a brewery that's been operating since 1758, this is one of the definitive oatmeal stouts. It's available in most specialty beer shops, reasonably priced, and consistently made. The oatmeal additions provide a silkiness and fullness that balances the roasted grain bitterness. This is the style's gold standard.
ABV: 5% | Availability: Most craft beer retailers | Rating: 92/100
Hear us out. Peanut butter in a stout sounds like a novelty. It is, in the best possible way. Belching Beaver's version threads the needle between gimmick and genuinely great beer — the peanut butter character reads as a natural companion to the chocolate and coffee notes rather than an incongruous addition. Excellent with vanilla ice cream for an adult dessert situation.
ABV: 5.3% | Availability: West Coast primary, growing nationally | Rating: 90/100
Under 4% and properly dark, the session stout is an underserved category. Lagunitas's version hits the roasty, coffee-forward notes you want from a stout without committing you to two hours of heavy drinking. A legitimate every-day stout for people who don't want to plan their evening around what they're drinking.
ABV: 3.8% | Availability: Nationwide | Rating: 87/100
Lost in the terminology? Here's the quick version:
Dry Stout — Roasted bitterness, low ABV, little to no sweetness. Guinness is the template.
Sweet/Milk Stout — Lactose added for sweetness and body. Chocolate-forward, accessible, often lower ABV.
Oatmeal Stout — Oats in the grain bill for a silkier, fuller texture. Less bitter than dry stout.
Imperial Stout — High ABV (9%+), intense chocolate and coffee, often barrel-aged. A meal in a glass.
Foreign Extra Stout — More robust than dry stout, brewed for export. Guinness Foreign Extra is the example.
Our ratings are on a 100-point scale based on style accuracy, execution, and overall enjoyment. No payment is accepted for reviews.
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