American Stout is the specialty category American craft turned into a global reference. Of the 73 American stouts on this ranking, 29 are Imperial Stout — a sub-style that in the American craft scene became a canvas for the two innovations that defined 21st-century stout brewing: barrel-aging (particularly bourbon-barrel and rum-barrel programmes) and the pastry-stout adjunct tradition (coffee, cocoa, coconut, marshmallow, vanilla). Neither existed at scale in world brewing before American craft breweries built the categories around them.
The hopIQ ranking captures the breadth: Deschutes Obsidian Stout, AleSmith Speedway Stout, Superstition Breakfast Stout, plus a wide tail of Oatmeal, Milk, Coffee, Foreign Extra, and specialty variants including the Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout sub-style. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Bell's Expedition Stout, and Deschutes The Abyss are absent from this list only because they missed the qualifying threshold — the American Imperial Stout category is deeper than any 50-beer ranking can capture, and the top of this list represents beers that combine consistent style-precision scores with award recognition rather than one-off release hype.
How this ranking works
The hopIQ Score weights style authenticity (80%), user engagement (10%), notability (10%), and award history. Active, in-production beers only — non-alcoholic excluded. No paid placement — order follows the data alone. Ranking spans 73 beers from 67 breweries.
Top 5 of 50
1
Boxing Bear Stout Bear Imperial StoutBest Overall#91 worldwide
Boxing Bear Brewing Co. · Imperial Stout · United States
Gold at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival. A full-bodied imperial stout with dark chocolate, espresso, dark fruit and a warming alcohol finish. New Mexico's most decorated dark beer and proof that serious stouts can be brewed in the… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
2
Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro#395 worldwide
Left Hand Brewing Company · Stout · United States
BitternessNoticeably bitter
America's most celebrated nitro stout. Pour hard over a spoon for a cascading creamy head — then drink deeply of dark chocolate, coffee and silky smooth milk sugar sweetness. Left Hand engineered a nitrogen widget into the bottle, creating… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
3
Marble Imperial Stout
Marble Brewery · Imperial Stout · United States
Marble's highest-rated beer on BeerAdvocate. Rich dark chocolate, espresso and roasted malt in a thick, warming body. One of New Mexico's most acclaimed dark beers and a Great American Beer Festival medal winner. Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
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Zonker Stout
Snake River Brewing · Foreign Extra Stout · United States
BitternessNoticeably bitter
One of the most-awarded beers in America — a rich, well-balanced foreign-style stout with a generous amount of roasted barley, sweet chocolatey malt, and a smooth finish. So decorated that Snake River reportedly no longer even enters it in… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
5
Blackbeerd Imperial Stout
COAST Brewing Co. · Russian Imperial Stout · United States
As dark as the pirate's legend — a big imperial stout, jet black with intense roasted malt, bittersweet dark chocolate and espresso. Full-bodied and warming, with a rich, lingering roasty finish. A cold-weather sipper named for the… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
Ranks 6–10
6
Sexual Chocolate
Foothills Brewing · Imperial Stout · United States
A cult imperial stout released once a year for Valentine's Day, drawing hundreds of fans to a single-day bottle event. Intense roasted malt, dark chocolate and rich coffee over a big, full, warming body. The beer that turned a catchy name… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
7
Hauling Oats Oatmeal Stout
Tenaya Creek Brewery · Oatmeal Stout · United States
A roasty, easy-drinking stout with oatmeal smoothness — the kind of dark beer that converts people who think they don't like dark beer. Coffee and chocolate notes without the weight. Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
8
Mexican Cake
Westbrook Brewing Co. · Imperial Stout · United States
A decadent imperial stout layered with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon and fresh habanero peppers. Rich and full-bodied with dark chocolate and roasted depth, a warming vanilla-spice sweetness and a slow chili heat that lingers. A cult… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
9
Nitro McCarthy Stout
49th State Brewing Company · Dry Irish Stout · United States
Alaska's original canned nitro stout — a dry Irish stout with a nitrogen widget that pours the cascading tan head and silky mouthfeel you can usually only get on draft. Roasted coffee and dark chocolate up front, dry finish, low ABV. The… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
10
Nitro Irish Stout
Breckenridge Brewery · Irish Stout · United States
A Colorado take on the classic Irish Stout, served on nitro — cascading tan head, silky mouthfeel, and a low-carb velvet across the palate. Roasted coffee and dark chocolate lead, with a whisper of bitter cocoa on the finish. Not heavy,… Ranked here for style-fit against the Stout reference and award history in Stout-specific categories.
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11
Schlafly Oatmeal Stout
Schlafly Beer·Oatmeal Stout · 5.7%·Noticeably bitter·dark 39
12
Oatmeal Stout
Revelry Brewing Co.·Oatmeal Stout · 5.5%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
13
Portal Near the Bounds of Nonexistence
Burial Beer Co.·Imperial Stout · 14%·Noticeably bitter·dark 50
14
Boston Irish Stout
Harpoon Brewery·Irish Dry Stout · 4.3%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
15
Territorial Stout
COOP Ale Works·American Stout · 6.7%·Strongly bitter·dark 39
16
Santa Fe Java Stout
Santa Fe Brewing Company·Coffee Stout · 6.2%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
17
Mean Old Tom
Maine Beer Company·Stout · 6.5%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
18
Victory Storm King Imperial Stout
Victory Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 9.1%·Very bitter·dark 55
19
Boxing Bear Wired Bear Coffee Stout
Boxing Bear Brewing Co.·Coffee Stout · 6.2%·Noticeably bitter·dark 38
20
Midnight Sun Berserker Imperial Stout
Midnight Sun Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 12.6%·Very bitter·dark 40
21
Black Cauldron Imperial Stout
Grand Teton Brewing·Imperial Stout · 9.9%·Very bitter·dark 40
22
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout
Goose Island Beer Co.·Imperial Stout · 14.5%·Very bitter·dark 40
23
Big Bad Baptist
Epic Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 12%·Very bitter·dark 45
24
The Poet
New Holland Brewing Company·Oatmeal Stout · 5.2%·Noticeably bitter·dark 30
25
Mornin' Delight
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 12%·Strongly bitter·dark 50
26
Taos Mesa El Bruno Stout
Taos Mesa Brewing·Oatmeal Stout · 6%·Noticeably bitter·dark 41
27
Oskar Blues Ten FIDY Imperial Stout
Oskar Blues Brewery·Imperial Stout · 10.5%·Very bitter·dark 60
28
Founders Breakfast Stout
Founders Brewing Co.·Imperial Stout · 8.3%·Very bitter·dark 40
29
Fireman's Stout
Firehouse Brewing Company·Stout · 5.8%·Noticeably bitter·dark 38
30
AleSmith Speedway Stout
AleSmith Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 12%·Very bitter·dark 60
31
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Brooklyn Brewery·Imperial Stout · 10%·Very bitter·dark 40
32
Firestone Walker Parabola
Firestone Walker Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 12.8%·Very bitter·dark 40
33
City Wide Stout
4 Hands Brewing Company·Stout · 4.5%·Noticeably bitter·dark 32
34
Obsidian Stout
Deschutes Brewery·American Stout · 6.4%·Strongly bitter·dark 35
35
Prairie Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales·Imperial Stout · 13%·Very bitter·dark 40
36
Bell's Kalamazoo Stout
Bell's Brewery·Stout · 6%·Noticeably bitter·dark 45
37
Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout
Great Divide Brewing Company·Imperial Stout · 9.2%·Very bitter·dark 40
38
Into the Void
Marshall Brewing Company·American Stout · 6%·Strongly bitter·dark 42
39
Tractor Double Plow Oatmeal Stout
Tractor Brewing Company·Oatmeal Stout · 7.5%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
40
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
Founders Brewing Co.·Imperial Stout · 11.2%·Very bitter·dark 60
41
Jefferson Stout
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company·Stout · 6%·Noticeably bitter·dark 38
42
Honolulu Beerworks South Shore Stout
Honolulu Beerworks·Stout · 6.4%·Noticeably bitter·dark 35
43
Chocolate Volcano
Heavy Seas Beer·Imperial Stout · 10%·Strongly bitter·dark 45
44
HooDoo Oatmeal Stout
HooDoo Brewing Company·Oatmeal Stout · 5.8%·Strongly bitter·dark 35
45
Indeed Midnight Ryder
Indeed Brewing Company·American Stout · 6%·Strongly bitter·dark 39
46
Surly Darkness
Surly Brewing Co.·Russian Imperial Stout · 10.2%·Very bitter·dark 40
47
Superstition Breakfast Stout
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company·Stout · 8%·Noticeably bitter·dark 40
48
Outlaw Milk Stout
Great Basin Brewing Company·Milk Stout · 5%·Lightly bitter·dark 40
49
Chuli Stout
Denali Brewing Company·Dry Irish Stout (Nitro) · 5.9%·Strongly bitter·dark 38
50
70K Evil
Against the Grain Brewery·Imperial Stout · 10%·Very bitter·dark 40
The taste landscape
Of the 50 top beers, 39 lean malt-forward and 2 lean hop-forward.