A Beginner’s Guide To Stouts

For many people, thinking of fall conjures up images of pumpkin spice lattes, apple picking, and cozy sweaters. At NearU, when we think of fall– we think STOUTS.

Today we’re taking a deep dive into stouts to show you that this delicious genre of beer has much more to offer beyond your traditional Guinness.

Guinness is a great starting point when getting into stouts because it is one of the most recognizable beers in the world. Don’t get us wrong, we love a perfectly poured pint of Guinness, but the stout genre has much more in store for you.

One of the hot new trends in Stout-land is the Pastry Stout. This is the perfect stout for first timers. Why is that? Well, it’s because Pastry Stouts are essentially alcoholic milkshakes. These sweet treats are full bodied with a thick viscosity reminiscent of a milkshake. This is not to mention that most of the time they are clocking in at anywhere from 10% to 14% alcohol. 

Pastry stouts come in all shapes and sizes. The base for all of them is the same– it’s taking your classic stout (Which has dark malts) and mixing in any and all types of aromatics.

What Are Our Favorite Stouts?

A few of our favorite additions to stouts include:

Peanut Butter: What’s a better combination than peanut butter and chocolate? The answer is nothing. With stouts already having an inherent rich, roasted, and chocolaty coffee base to them, peanut butter is a natural add in that ramps up any stout. Trillium is cranking out a peanut butter cup stout that tastes like a liquid peanut butter cup.

Maple: When you are enjoying pancakes on a Saturday morning and no one is looking, do you ever get the urge to just pick up the maple syrup bottle and take a few sips? If so, maple stouts are for you. The best maple stouts taste like you are drinking syrup straight from the tree. Two of our favorites are Moment of Clarity from Tree House and Double Stack from Great Notion.

Coconut: Coconut in stouts is very much like pineapple on pizza, you either love it or you hate. We happen to love it. The sweetness of the coconut offers the perfect contrast to the bitterness of a coffee or chocolate in the stout. Coconut Macaroon by the Bruery offers all of that coconut goodness in a can.

Oreos/Chocolate Chip Cookies: Yes, cookies in a beer. And that is just the tip of the iceberg for some of these breweries. For instance, Other Half cranks out Kookie Kooks, which tastes like you ground up some Chips Ahoy into a smoothie. They also have stouts with pretzels and potato chips! When it comes to a good Oreo stout, you can’t get much better than Double Stuffed by Definitive Brewing. This is a must try for any die hard Oreo fan.

The last thing we want leave you with is an abbreviated history lesson on the topic.

The age old question: What is the different between a porter and a stout? The short answer is they are the same! “Stout” was originally the name for a brewer’s strongest porter.