The Best Stouts Of 2025—According To The World Beer Cup
Stouts across the country and globe took home gold medals at this year's World Beer Cup.
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The dark side is striking back in the beer world.
Stouts are having a moment and seeing rapid growth after years of being outshone by brighter or hoppier IPAs, pilsners and lagers. This surge in sales is being led by the world's most popular stout, Guinness. Thanks, in part, to the 'splitting the G' social media trend, Guinness sales globally have surged. In the U.S., it's one of the fastest-growing imported beers and sales were so popular at the end of 2024 in the United Kingdom that there was a Christmas Guinness shortage — stout sales overall rose by 13% last year in the UK.
This is having a spillover effect to other stout offerings in the U.S. In my conversations with brewers in recent years, I learned that in some cases, declining interest in stouts had prevented them from brewing as many variations of the style as they'd like — that's starting to change. Women, in particular, are drinking more stouts and have a renewed interest in the style that is leading to more variations being offered.
The extent of what a stout beer could be was on display at this year's World Beer Cup, which saw breweries from across the globe submit hundreds of stouts in various styles. The World Beer Cup is run by the Brewers Association and bills itself as the 'most prestigious beer competition in the world.' This year's competition took place earlier this spring in Indianapolis. In 14 blind tast-testing sessions, 265 expert beer judges tasted 8,375 entries submitted by 1,761 breweries and cideries from 49 different countries. Ultimately, these judges selected medal winners in more than 300 categories including 9 stout categories — there were also other dark beer categories including various styles of porters.
This year's gold medal-winning stouts, which judges deemed the best stouts in the world this year, span a variety of stout sub-styles and offer many different flavors from pastry souts to barrel aged stouts and everything in between.
Coffee Stout or Porter
Gold: Midnight Sea, Morgan Territory Brewing, Tracy, CA
Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout,
Gold: The Gateway, West Coast Brewing, Shizuoka, Japan
Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
Gold: Depth Dweller, Indigo Reef Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant, SC
Sweet Stout or Cream Stout
Gold: Moozie, Brink Brewing Co., Cincinnati, OH
Oatmeal Stout
Gold: North Tower Stout, Earth Rider Brewery, Superior, WI
Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout
Gold: Minoh Beer Stout, Minoh Brewery, Minoh-shi, Japan
Export Stout
Gold: Starway, Barrel Mountain Brewing, Battle Ground, WA
American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout
Gold: Breakside Cheat Codes, Breakside Brewery & Taproom, Milwaukie, OR
American-Style Imperial Stout
Gold: Fulcrum Imperial Stout, ZwanzigZ Brewing, Columbus, IN
The beers above tend to be available at their respective breweries and some also have limited distribution and can ship beer to certain states. If you're looking to expand your stout drinking beyond Guinness, check your local brewery for its stout offerings. Guinness is an Irish dry stout, so look in particular for that style. If you can't find it, I think milk stouts, though somewhat creamier, offer a similar stout-drinking experience. In my experience, the best stout is often the one you happen to be drinking.
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