What do you consider to be a stout?

Guinness is considered an Irish Dry Stout, and usually these types of stouts are a little bit lighter in body and taste (more watery than Founders and Bells for sure). You might like the Imperial Stout style (higher alcohol content, heavier body) more than the Irish Dry Stout style (lower alcohol content, lighter body), which means you're in very good company on this site.

 

Guinness is not "a stout" - it's the brand name of many different stouts. In the U.S. currently these are available according to their Guinness USA website.

If you had it on tap you almost certainly had the one on the far left, known as GUINNESS DRAUGHT - which also comes in cans and bottles under that name. It's the lightest/lowest in alcohol stout they sell in the US.

 

It sounds like you enjoy heavier dark beers. As @DCH mentioned, Guinness draught is a dry Irish stout which is a very light take on a stout compared to what most US brewers will label as " stout".

Scotch Ales, like backwoods bastard, are not stouts but are also malt forward and bigger bodied beers. You may also enjoy barlerywine, quads, and old ales.

Bells and founders both do a very good job with their dark.beers and exploring more of their offerings is a good place to start. Assuming you are in Michigan you might also be able to find stuff from central waters who make very good and affordable dark beers. If you find your regional forum on here, folks there will probably be able to offer even more recommendations that are available in your area.

Mostly just keep trying things and explore what you enjoy about the things you enjoy. There are beers for every.flavor these days, it's a great time to be exploring and enjoy the ride

 

The bright side of beer naivete is that you can attend as many educational sessions as you like, as budget allows. There are so many core styles, sub styles, specialty styles, is-this-even-beer styles that would take quite some time to get basic exposure to each of them. Just look at some of the review counts of the seasoned BAs. You never know what might rock your world until you try new things.

If you’re going to broaden your horizons, heed my words on budget...craft can get expensive fast! $40 on a 4-pack of Dogfish Head World Wide Stout is well worth it IMHO, but hard to justify as a daily drinker unless you have unlimited funds...and a spare liver to cover that 18% ABV! Welcome to BA.

 

How do I like this post twice?

 

You and I seem to share some quite similar preferences. I will leave it to others to define/describe the nuances of different styles of stouts, but I know what I like, and based on your descriptions I recommends Bells Expedition stout and Boulevard Dark Truth stout. Both are pretty widely available. Neither are "cheap" but neither are priced like some of the insanely good but barely worth the price, limited edition/harder to find barrel aged stouts.

 

Welcome to BA
As others have mentioned the are several sub-styles of stout (BA lists 8 https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/) with varying levels of hops, additives, and body.

If you want a baseline to judge other stouts pick up a 4 pack of Old Rasputin. It is an excellent, clean example of a classic Russian Imperial at a very reasonable price.

Bell's Kalamazoo for an American stout.
American Imperials are likely to be barrel aged and have added flavors, KBS is a good example at a decent price
Guinness Extra is the classic bottled Irish stout
Samuel Smith for an oatmeal stout


BTW, if you enjoyed Backwoods Bastard try their Dirty Bastard, it's the unaged scotch ale and, IMO, a better tasting beer.

 

Stouts are all over the place. They used to be just a stronger version of a Porter. Now you'll find a lot of variations. Here is an easy read resource that may be helpful. Have fun exploring!

http://allaboutbeer.com/beer_style/stout/

 

Welcome to the BA site, edwilksm. You've found a great place to learn about and talk about beer and every topic that goes with it.

One thing that is common about the three beers that you mentioned is that all have an added flavor that enhances the base beer, whether it be bourbon barrel character, cherry flavoring or coffee flavoring in that order of your listing. When done right these extra flavors will make the base beer attain a peak flavor, so you are getting that beer style at its best.

That's not to say that dark beer styles have to have something 'extra' to make them good. Someone mentioned Bell's Expedition Stout in a post above, and that is a great example of a great stout that does not have extra flavoring, although it does use brewer's licorice as a mild flavoring. (It's a seasonal winter beer, so it's unlikely that you will find it now.) The stout style was born when strong porters were first brewed, so a 'stout' porter was the start, thus porters are closely related to stouts. Try that style.

Dark beers use dark or roasted grains in the brewing process, so that's what they have in common, and the flavors from these grains is likely what is attractive to your taste buds. However, Guinness beers may be an exception for you.

Explore the site as much as you can. You'll learn a lot. Enjoy!

 

The Antwerpen is outstanding too, as is the Over the Moon -- but if you're in your "big beer stage" the Milk Stout might not be for you yet.

 

Check out the 'Beers' section of breweries' websites that become your favorite breweries and you'll learn a bit more than what you'll get here on BA. For example, you'll discover on the Founders site that Dirty Bastard is a wintertime seasonal, yet, Backwoods Bastard is a year-round beer, regardless that it is made from DB. (The BB is in smaller quantities and more expensive because of the cost of the bourbon barrels and the aging/storage costs, but it can be found as you've already discovered.)

 

Oh, and the Foreign Extra too -- don't know how I missed that.

 

It seem to me that you like flavored Stouts. There are a lot of them to try but many of them are high ABV like Founders Breakfast Stout.