HOPIQ FACEOFF
57%
Overall similarity
hopIQ take
Black Sheep Milk Stout if you want creamy sweetness,
Guinness Draught if you want bitter edge and sessionability.
The Black Sheep leans dessert—lactose sugar rounds out the roast—while Guinness is drier, more classically Irish. ABV is nearly identical (4.4 vs 4.2), but the IBU gap (18 vs 35) fundamentally changes the experience. Pick Black Sheep for indulgence, Guinness for restraint.
At a glance
The differences that matter
Generated from the four anchored axes — never hand-written.
Beer DNA
Where they separate
Body
Δ 6
Sweetness
Δ 17
Situations
When to choose which
In words
Tasting notes
Black Sheep Milk Stout
Black Sheep Milk Stout slides across your palate like a silkscreen. You get chocolate and caramel first, then the lactose comes in—genuine sweetness, not cloying. The 4.4% ABV sits comfortably, and at just 18 IBUs there's barely a hop whisper. It's what happens when a stout stops fighting itself and just wants to be approachable.
Guinness Draught
Guinness Draught hits different. The nitrogen pour creates that tight, almost creamy head, but underneath is a dry, roasted grain backbone with actual bitterness. At 35 IBUs you taste the hops—earthy, slightly bitter—cutting through the coffee and cocoa notes. It's leaner, more austere. You can actually drink two without feeling stuffed.
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