Must have/try stouts

He may not be able to get all 5, but he should be able to get their milk stout, which is really quite delicious.

 

We think (according to their respective scores, for whatever that's worth) that regular old Guinness Draught is OK verging on good, that Guinness Extra Stout is very good, and that Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is outstanding.

It's not like a Guinness Draught is a drain-pour or anything, but I agree - it isn't that great. However, there have been plenty of times (especially back in the old days before the explosion of craft brewing) that I found myself at bars or restaurants where Guinness Draught was by far the best thing available, and at 4.2% you can have quite a few, so it's definitely deserves some props for that.

 

4 beans and beast mode are the porters that made me actually drink more porters.

 

Regular stout: Deschutes Obsidian Stout

Coffee Stout: Oakshire Espresso Stout

Imperial Coffee stout: Alesmith Speedway Stout

Barrel aged stout: Crux Tough Love

Coffee Barrel aged Stout: Avery Tweak

 

Guinness SES
Kernel make some nice strong-ish ones
Buxton Stronge
Harveys Imperial Extra Double
Fyne Sublime Stout
Old Chimneys Good King Henry
Siren Broken Dream


Some good lower abv ones. Not sure about "must have"
Cairngorm Black Gold
Williams Bros March of the Penguins
Hook Norton double stout
Loch Ness DarkNess
Loch Lomond Silkie
Cromarty Brewed Awakening

 

I'll second the Boulevard Stouts, they are great. Lion is pretty good, Flying Dog Kujo was pretty good and should be easy to get a hold of, and as others have said Stone's RIS is good also. Not sure if any micro Maine breweries make it down to CT but Belfast Bay makes McGovern's Oatmeal Stout which is probably my second favorite Maine based stout (I know my favorite doesn't make it down there because you pretty much have to go brewery to get it even in Maine: Rock Harbor Spruce Head Stout). A lot of the import stouts from the smaller UK breweries are good also.

 

Lots of great recommendations. Just don't rely on the "Best of" lists.

 

Yards Love Stout & Chocolate Love Sout

 

I agree - there have been several top-rated stouts that I found meh, while some other less/un rated stouts I tried on a whim or based on NBS comments/recommendations were very good. Don't pass up the opportunity to try any of these stouts, no matter how they are rated - since rating is mostly subjective. Also, don't discount a beer based on IBU or ABV since the extent to which they impact taste depends on the skill of the brewer.

 

Check out:
Hardywood Kentucky Christmas Morning
Oskar Blues Death by Coconut
Prairie Bomb!

 

More votes for:

Bomb!
Speedway
Plead the 5th
Imperial biscotti break

As for Barrel aged:
Black Tuesday
BB plead the 5th
Abyss

 

If u like 4 beans u gotta have victory at sea. They are almost the same just victory at sea tastes even more like coffee and vanilla

 

Westbrook Mexican Cake
BCBS
Prairie BOMB!
Founders CBS
Victory at Sea
Grimm Double Negative (Regular and Barrel Aged)
Finback BQE- Barrel Aged
Cuvee Delphine
Rogue Chocolate Stout
Perennial Sump
Perennial Abraxas
Also not a huge fan of Southern Tier but Southern Tier Choklat is pretty delicious

 

just had it recently for the first time myself, but Choklat from Southern Tier is amazing. best dessert beer/chocolate stout I think I have ever had.

 

Bell's 30th Anniversary, if you can get ahold of it.

 

+1 for Ten Fidy. Big Bad Baptist is one of the better widely-available stouts I've had recently. Also, The Bruery Smoking Wood was awesome...it's technically an imperial porter though. I had the Mole-infused variant, though there are a few others if you can find them.

 

Easy to get:

Ten Fidy
Stone IRS
Bourbon County
Founders Breakfast
Founders Imperial
Speedway
Old Rasputin
Yeti's
Brooklyn BCS

Hard to get:

BCS Variants
Hunahpu
BA Blackout
Parabola
BB Plead the 5th
Black Tuesday (and variants)
Mexican Cake
Abraxas
BA Abraxas
Morning Delight

 

KBS
BA Old Rasputin
Abraxas
Mexican Cake variants
Huna
Parabola
Anything Cycle
Speedway Variants
Bomb ! and variants

 

I'd say any one of these would do you quite good:
Struise (any one of the many Black Albert variations)
Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon
De Molen Black Damnation 666
Firestone Walker Parabola
Toccalmatto Russian Imperial Stout Wild Bretta
Mikkeller George! Barrel Aged (Bourbon Edition)
Prairie Bomb!
Lervig Brewers Reserve Konrads Stout
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
Great Divide Yeti

Also, should you ever get the chance to get your hands on Buxton Omnipollo Yellow Belly Sundae, then just do it! The most amazing desert beer ever.

 

Add (From CT):
Imperial Stout Trooper
Coup Beans
Big Bad Bunny Stout
Last Drop
Igor's Dream
Mutually Assured Destruction BA