These beers rank highest on the hopIQ Score — a nightly-updated weighting of style authenticity, award history, and community signals. Filter by style family or country to narrow the list; the top-3 podium and full ranking below always reflect the current day’s data.
How this ranking works
The hopIQ Score judges every beer against its style first: it rewards medals from competitions that judge within style categories and deducts points where a beer measurably deviates from its style reference. Community ratings add to that. Non-alcoholic excluded. No paid placement — order follows the data alone. Ranking spans 1020 beers from 516 breweries.
Top 5 of 50
Imperial Extra Double StoutBest Overall
ABV
9.0%
Bitterness
Very bitter
Colour
dark 40
A bottle-conditioned imperial stout at 9.0%, brewed only once every nine months and aged for eighteen. It stands in the tradition of the stouts shipped from England to Russia and the Baltic in the early 1800s. Black, with black coffee and… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
ABV
4.4%
Bitterness
Lightly bitter
Colour
dark 35
Black Gold opens on a nutty roast and coffee, turns sweet with dark fruit and closes dry with a chocolatey finish, a Scottish milk stout at 4.4% ABV. Four malt colours make up the grist. CAMRA named it Champion Winter Beer of Britain in… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
ABV
12.6%
Bitterness
Very bitter
Colour
dark 40
A curated blend from the brewery's barrel room. Intense aromatics of espresso and maple syrup lead into bourbon-drenched maple candy and chocolate brownies on the palate. The brewery sells it only at its annual KBBS bottle release. It won… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
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ABV
5.1%
Bitterness
Noticeably bitter
Colour
dark 35
Almost black in the glass under a thick tan head, held in place by nitrogen dispense. Roasted malt gives coffee, dark chocolate and caramel on the nose, with a dry grain note behind. The body is full and creamy, the roast bitterness rounds… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
5
Nitro McCarthy StoutBest Session
ABV
4.2%
Bitterness
Noticeably bitter
Colour
dark 35
This nitro dry Irish stout pours velvety and creamy. Robust notes of chocolate and coffee come from an assertive use of dark roasted malts, and a roasty character runs through the glass. Smooth, robust and deceptively drinkable at 4.2% ABV… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
Ranks 6–10
6
Started as an autumn seasonal and stayed in the range; sold in bottle and on nitro keg. Lactose adds a smooth sweetness that takes the edge off robust roasted malt and hop bitterness. Dark chocolate leads the aroma, with quieter coffee and… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
7
Assassin is a barrel-aged stout that spends over a year in barrels, sometimes closer to two. Bourbon notes and warmth in each sip wash over a fudge chocolate base. The 2026 release comes in at 14.7% ABV, against 12% for the 2018 to 2020… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
8
Dark chocolate, mocha and molasses rise from the glass, with espresso, baker's chocolate and plum following on the palate. Hunahpu's Imperial Stout is named for one of the Hero Twins of Mayan mythology, whose father's body became a cacao… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
9
Coffee, chocolate and vanilla meet the roasty flavors of a stout in a beer that skips the traditional stout look. A carefully calibrated blend of Better Buzz coffee, Ghanaian cocoa nibs and vanilla beans builds its signature, alongside… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
10
Primátor Stout is a top-fermented dark beer of the Irish type at 4.7 %, made from six grains: Pilsner, Munich and colour malts, a smoked malt, roasted barley and oats, with Northern Brewer as the only hop. It is near black with ruby glints… Ranked on fit to the Stout reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
The taste landscape
Of the 50 top beers, 17 lean malt-forward and 2 lean hop-forward.