Many drinkers, even knowledgeable ones, can get confused about what exactly stout is, said Eric Asimov in The New York Times. The very word evokes an “inky, impenetrable, black” liquid. Just as most people think darker coffee must contain more caffeine than lighter roasts, many assume that stout is an alcoholic blockbuster. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Most stouts have an alcohol content of about 4 percent, “fractionally less even than Bud Light.” There are also myriad stout styles—English, Irish, oatmeal, chocolate, Russian imperial, and so on. Some are sweet, others dry. Our tasting panel recently sampled 19 North American stouts. The top three, in order, were:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer saysSpeed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primarySpeed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggestsSpeed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
