Good Stouts for beginners?

Great idea, you really don't have to worry the age factor, one of the reasons I stay away from mixes. Once sixers are broken all control is usually out the window.

 

Ignore the recommendations for all the RIS and BA stuff if u want to just dip your toe in. Grab some good Porters and stouts (same thing) like Eddy Fitz, bells Kalamazoo stout, hell even Sierra Nevada makes an approachable stout.

If u are more rip the band-aid off or cannon ball into the cold pool type, by all means reach for the RIS and BA stouts and get after it.

 

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Tallgrass Oatmeal Stout
Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout
Left Hand Fade to Black
Santa Fe State Penn Porter
Oskar Blues Hotbox Coffee Porter
Southern Star Buried the Hatchet Stout
Boulevard The Darkness Imperial Stout

 

Elysian Split Shot is a milk/coffee stout that is as smooth as baby's ass. It hits the shelves in January through March. Seek A Brew shows it should be available in New Jersey. I hope they're right. One of my favorite ways to enjoy Split Shot is to make a Stout float with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of choclolate sauce. I always stash some away in the back of the fridge to save and enjoy on a hot summer day!

 

They make good beers, but I rarely buy, I got caught up in their big infection thing. Unfortunately I shipped some out in trades, they made good, they apologized , but still....

 

I consider Zonker to be a classic American Stout.

 

Forgot about that one!

 

I echo Left Hand Milk stout, and especially the Nitro Milk stout if you can find it.
Sierra Nevada or Founders stouts or porters are also great "intro" stouts.

 

Young's Double Chocolate in the nitro can. Very easy drinker

 

OP, if your mention of Guinness is regarding Extra Stout or Draught, I highly recommend looking for the 200th Anniversary mix pack. Foreign Extra Stout is sublime and the Antwerp & the 200th are very good beers as well imo. Cheers.

 

@EvenMoreJesus If we're counting in Porters then I wholeheartedly recommend Fuller's London Porter. It's an incredibly well balanced brew and really has everything that you could ever want in a stout/porter.

 

For stouts I'd recommend New Holland The Poet, Modern Times Black House, Sierra Nevada Stout and Coffee Stout, Ipswich Oatmeal Stout. Porters, Founders and Smuttynose Robust Porter. Haven't tried Black Butte, Obsidian, and Eddy Fitz, but they're pretty much OG beers with solid reps.

 

Sierra Nevada Stout is a good starting out Stout.

 

OP - you've gotten a lot of great and widely varying advice. As you are in New Jersey, you have one of the best brewery selections between NJ and neighboring states. Next thing to do is start buying singles and start noting which you like. Then come back with the names of a few favorites, and get suggestions like them. Perhaps you prefer Milk Stouts, Oatmeal, BBA, RBA, RIS, or coffee. Report back.

 

Drink any and everything. Jump right in.

 

I know what you mean about neighboring states but bad news if op is in south jersey or the shore like me....its not that great. We dont get carton, river horse, as much as the north even and its in-state.

 

To the American category I would add...

Sierra Nevada Stout
Firestone Walker Mocha Merlin

While I say I don't drink stouts frequently, I would say that Sierra Nevada Stout and Deschutes Obsidian are annual stout buys for me. Mocha Merlin was the surprise of the season. I will seek it out in the future!

Your list...is solid!

 

A great stout is Fuller's Black Cab (4.5%). A delicious, sophisticated beer...

 

This sounds interesting and from New Jersey:

River Horse Oatmeal Milk Stout