Serious Stouts For Serious Times

American Craft Beer|February 22nd, 2022|

(Courtesy Firestone Walker)

Winter is stout season. And American craft brewers have full slate of rich dark beers you need to chase down.

A Beast Of A Beer (Paso Robles, CA) – Of all the beers under Firestone Walker’s Proprietor’s Vintage Series, Parabola, the brewery’s annual barrel-aged Imperial Stout, may be the most notorious. And this year’s vintage, which was aged for a year in 12-year-old Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for the first time ever, is one of their best.

“Historically, we’ve aged Parabola in six to eight-year-old bourbon barrels, but this time we seized the opportunity to age it in older barrels,” said Barrel Program Manager Eric Ponce. “It adds a new dimension to what people have come to know and love about Parabola.”

(Courtesy Founders Brewing)

Going Hazel Nuts (Grand Rapids, MI) – Founders Brewing has a new addition to its KBS Coffee Stout line. Taking this bourbon barrel-aged concept to a new level Founders KBS Hazelnut is a silky 12% ABV Imperial Stout with rich hazelnut, vanilla, cocoa, roasted coffee and charred oak.

“Hazelnut makes for a great infusion into coffee so we decided to bring those flavors to our most epic coffee beer, KBS,” said Founders Brewmaster, Jeremy Kosmicki. “It really adds another amazing layer of depth to an already perfectly balanced and complex beer.”

Stout Stuff (Edinburgh) – just in time for St Patrick’s Day, Innis & Gunn, the second largest brewery in Scotland right behind BrewDog, is returning something special to the US. Jet black in color and aged to perfection, this year’s Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask is a 6.1% ABV Scottish Oatmeal Stout with dark chocolate, expresso and vanilla bean tones and a rich malt character.

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