The Best 10 Stouts To Drink on a Cold Day

While there’s rarely a bad time for a good IPA, pilsner, or wheat beer, winter is the season of darker, maltier beers. Specifically, stouts. Dark (and sometimes pitch black) in appearance and loaded with flavors like roasted malts, dark chocolate, vanilla, and coffee, stouts are well-suited for cold weather.

The most well-known style of stout is the dry Irish stout (thanks Guinness). Another popular style is the milk stout, a beer brewed with lactose or milk sugars. Oatmeal stouts, known for their extra sweetness, are brewed with (you guessed it) oats.

Oyster stouts are brewed with actual oysters (yes really). Pastry stouts are crafted to taste like cake and other pastries. Coffee stouts have the added dimension of actual coffee. Imperial stouts are higher in alcohol content and flavor. Lastly, barrel-aged stouts spend months in former bourbon barrels (and other barrels) to give it a bold, rich, indulgent, warming flavor profile.

All stout styles have something that make them special. But if you’re looking for a stout that’s perfect for winter, you should reach for one of these 10.

New Holland Dragon’s Milk

New Holland’s most well-known beer is Dragon’s Milk. This 11 percent ABV imperial stout carries notes of freshly brewed coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla beans, roasted malts, oak, and sweet bourbon whiskey thanks to being matured for a full three months in ex-bourbon barrels.

North Coast Old Rasputin

Named for the influential Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this Russian imperial stout was made to pay homage to the beers once brewed for the court of Catherine the Great. It has a rich, complex flavor profile of sweet caramel malts, roasted coffee, and dark chocolate.

Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout

If you’re leaning toward oatmeal stouts this winter, look no further than Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout. Brewed simply with water, malted barley, cane sugar, roasted malt, yeast, hops, and oatmeal, it has a sweet, velvety mouthfeel with oats, chocolate, caramel, and a bittersweet, pleasantly dry finish.

Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break

This 11.5 percent imperial stout was crafted to taste like a Biscotti cookie in a pint glass. It’s a stout brewed with coffee beans, vanilla, and almond. It has ann aroma of coffee, chocolate, brown sugar, and a palate of almond cookies, melted chocolate, espresso beans, and roasted malts. The finish is sweet and lightly bitter.

Allagash North Sky

Allagash is well-known for its Belgian-inspired beers, specifically its iconic Allagash White. But the Maine-based brewery also brews a really good stout called Allagash North Sky. It’s brewed with 2-row malted barley, pale malt, oats, torrified oats, chocolate malt, roasted barley, midnight wheat, and Northern Brewer and Cascade hops. The result is a balanced, sweet, fruity, roasted malt-filled stout.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Once brewed as brewmaster Garrett Oliver’s resume beer, this iconic stout is brewed with various specially selected roasted malts. This 10 percent ABV Russian imperial stout has indulgent chocolate fudge, roasted malt, and espresso flavors. It’s so sweet and loaded with chocolate that it’s best viewed as a dessert beer.

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

While many barrel-aged stouts are released annually or seasonally and are difficult to find, the iconic Kentucky Breakfast Stout (also known as KBS) from Founders is available and fairly easy to find all year long. This 12 percent ABV bourbon barrel-aged chocolate coffee stout has flavors of roasted coffee, oaky wood, sweet bourbon, and chocolate.

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

This 6 percent ABV stout uses a mix of chocolate and roasted malts. Brewed with 2-row, crystal, chocolate, and Munich malts as well as rolled oats, flaked barley, roasted barley along with CTZ and US Goldings hops, it gets an extra velvety mouthfeel from the addition of lactose. The addition of nitro adds an extra creamy dimension to this already indulgent beer.

Guinness Stout

There are few stouts more famous than Guinness Stout. This dry Irish stout is known for its surprisingly drinkable light body as well as bold, complex aromas and flavors of coffee, chocolate, and roasted malts. While it’s best on tap at an authentic Irish pub (preferably in Ireland), the use of nitro in bottles and cans gives it a similar creamy mouthfeel.

Troegs Grand Cacao

Troegs is a big name in the craft beer world. Its seasonal releases (specifically IPAs) are eagerly awaited by countless fans. But, when it comes to indulgent stouts, Troegs has a great one in its Grand Cacao. This chocolate-centric stout gets its bold, rich flavors from being brewed with chocolate malt, caramel malt, and roasted barley. To add to that, the brewers cold steep Peruvian cacao nibs, natural vanilla, and milk sugar. The result is a complex, indulgent, dessert-like stout with notes of dark chocolate, vanilla beans, and roasted malts.