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Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
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. getty 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.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Craft brewers navigate rising costs without passing hefty price hikes to customers
America's craft brewers may be facing the sobering reality of inflation and looming tariffs, but a number of them are using creative problem-solving to navigate tight economic times. Many of these artisans — traditionally known for their boldness and innovation — are finding ways to maintain quality and brand integrity without asking loyal customers to choke on the price. "Pretty much everything that goes into making beer got more expensive over the past five years," Bart Watson, president and CEO of the Colorado-based Brewers Association, told Fox News Digital. "In this competitive environment, it's hard for brewers to pass all that on to the customer because they risk losing sales. So brewers are faced with this dual challenge." Beer makers have seen a sharp increase in costs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "That's when the supply chain really shifted," David Stoneking, owner of Brotherwell Brewing in Waco, Texas, best known for its Belgian-style triple called Act of Faith, told Fox News Digital. "The tariffs and other related things are still an unknown. Everyone is aware of them, everyone is worried about them, but nobody has actually paid an additional price quite yet." Bill Butcher, owner of Port City Brewing Co. in Alexandria, Virginia, said he feels that, too. "We have rising input costs for our ingredients, rising labor costs for our team and rents are going up. Everything is getting more expensive," Butcher told Fox News Digital. "At the same time, people are being more careful with their money with all the uncertainty in the economy right now." Creative problem-solving helps craft breweries maintain price points without compromising the quality and variety their customers have come to expect. One way brewers are mitigating their costs is by sourcing local ingredients. "Our bestselling beer, Optimal Wit, is brewed with 100% Virginia-grown wheat," Butcher said. "We are happy to support our local Virginia agriculture. And as we've grown, we've become the largest purchaser of food-grade, Virginia-grown wheat in the state." In addition to supporting local farmers, Butcher said it reduces transportation costs and also allows the company to monitor inventory and not over-order ingredients that might go unused. Breweries in the same areas are also consolidating their orders for ingredients, Butcher said, as well as working together to ship their beer out to market when they have shared distributors. "We try to collaborate with our local allies in the market and work together in ways that make sense for everybody," Butcher said. Some brewers are expanding into other markets, such as kombucha, seltzers and non-alcoholic options, in order to bolster sales. "We make a non-alcoholic hoppy seltzer that we developed a couple of years ago as we saw the trend of 'Dry January' growing," Butcher said. "We wanted to offer something to people if they wanted to come to the brewery but not necessarily drink beer." Brotherwell Brewing also has some non-alcoholic offerings and Stoneking said he's always keeping an eye open for new options there, including food. "We don't have the resources right now to build out a kitchen," Stoneking said. "But we do partner with local food trucks as often as we're able." Beer and communities have always been intertwined, Stoneking said. For more Lifestyle articles, visit "Breweries and community beer gardens have developed as a space that was, throughout history, the place for people to gather," Stoneking said. "There's a little bit of shade and a little bit of beer — OK, let's hang out here as family or friends or community members. That has survived relatively unchanged for thousands of years." Compared with wine and spirits, even craft beer is on the low end of affordability. "With beer, we can stay kind of accessible," Stoneking said. "Whether you're paying $4 for a Bud Light or $6 for a craft beer, that $2 difference isn't huge. That means we get to cast a wider net," he said. "People specifically choose craft beer at that $2 up-charge over major domestics precisely for the quality of it and for the exploration of it. They find value in it."
Forbes
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why Small Beer Festivals Are Thriving
The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival features rare beers from a carefully curated list of the world's best breweries. Firestone Walker Brewing Company Beer festivals are a great way for beer lovers to sample many beers in one place. Often, such festivals offer beers not otherwise available in the local market which makes them a draw for even the most seasoned beer lover. For a time, the biggest beer festivals were the biggest draw. More beer. More people. More fun. But that seems to be changing. For the 2024 edition of the Great American Beer Festival, the largest ticketed beer festival in America, the Brewers Association, which hosts the event, rolled out a significantly revamped format—for the first time since its inception in 1982. Among the changes to the event, which is held annually in Denver, CO, the number of sessions was reduced from four to three. In its heyday, tickets for the Great American Beer Festival would sell out in minutes. But in response to slower ticket sales, the Brewers Association eliminated one session, significantly reducing the number of tickets available, while at the same time introducing theme areas with more varied forms of entertainment. It is too early to tell whether the changes will revive the Great American Beer Festival, but other 'Great' festivals are also struggling. The Great Canadian Beer Festival has been cancelled for 2025 while the Great British Beer Festival returns in a new venue 2025—in Birmingham, England—after being cancelled for 2024—having been held for 34 years in London. Reports are that attendance has been shrinking in recent years. But reports of the death of beer festivals may be premature. Across the country, smaller, more focused beer festivals continue to sell out, satisfying the beer drinking public's thirst for sampling beers. 'I asked myself, 'What would be the perfect beer festival?'' said Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company via video call. Firestone Walker hosts the annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival in its hometown of Paso Robles, California. 'I'd call up the best brewmasters of the world. We'd bring in the best beer, sent by air freight to ensure it is fresh and brewmasters would be there, so drinkers could meet the maker,' said Brynildson. 'And we would have wonderful food and world-class music.' The first Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival was held in 2012. It sold out in minutes then and now, about 3,500 tickets per year continue to sell out in minutes. 'We have a lot of wine-savvy consumers in Paso Robles,' said Brynildson. 'They have high expectations in their food and beverage experiences, so we have to set the bar high.' By keeping the beer festival small, Brynildson says ticketholders are given a better experience. The festival is built on the back of the relationships Brynildson has built during his brewing career and he knows the breweries he invites make great beer. Curation is the key. On the other side of the country, Good Word Brewing hosts three, small annual festivals in Duluth, Georgia, more or less 40 minutes from Atlanta. The city of 32,000 people has an open container zone within which people can drink alcohol in public spaces. That includes the town green, making it the perfect location for a beer festival. 'I created an event for brewers,' said Todd DiMatteo, owner and head brewer at Good Word, via telephone. 'Bigger festivals don't have the same feeling. They all become the same old, run-of-the-mill events with lots of breweries, mediocre food and maybe some band in the corner.' 'I attend a lot of festivals and a lot feel cookie cutter,' he says. 'So I wanted to create something totally different—something that feels fresh.' Good Word now organizes three festivals each with a theme and each with a curated list of invited breweries. According to DiMatteo, the more focused beer list draws a more interested consumer who is actually interested in tasting the nuances of each beer, rather than just trying to taste as many beers as possible. Having the event on the town green also means the festival goers can bring their families. There was a time when craft beer was a novelty and so was trying them amongst fellow beer lovers. But as the craft beer industry has matured, so have its drinkers. Awash in beer from almost 10,000 breweries in America, craft beer lovers have become more discerning and the curated offerings and more intimate settings of smaller beer festivals seem to be resonating with them. Here are seven small beer festivals worth visiting: About 70 of the best breweries from around the world present their beers each year at the Paso Robles Event Center, at the end of May or beginning of June. As a condition of invitation to the festival, breweries must have a brewer in attendance to answer questions and explain their beers. Consumers' choice awards, one for beer and one for food, ensure exhibiting breweries and restaurants bring their A game. 'Breweries bring something extra special to try to win the award,' says Brynildson. Ironically, Little Beer is the largest of these three annual beer festival hosted by Good Word Brewing in Duluth. Little Beer is a celebration of lower-alcohol beer held in April each year. Each of 80 to 90 brewers offers beers less than 5% ABV to 500 ticket holders. The outdoor festival is held in Duluth's town square, making it a family-friendly event. Le Bon is a celebration of saison and oysters held next to Good Word Brewing, in September. A dozen and a half breweries offer their finest saison to be paired with oysters supplied by famed shuckers. Mighty Fine Fest, a celebration of west coast IPA, is debuting in June 2025. About 50 breweries will have their hoppiest beers available and will help make Duluth the beer festival capital of America. Since 2009, the Denver Rare Beer Tasting has, as the name implies, served rare beers from some of America's most-respected breweries. Limited to 450 tickets at $200 each, the festival is held each year on the Thursday of the weekend of the Great American Beer Festival, in October each year. Brewers are in attendance to answer questions and proceeds support Pints For Prostates, a 501(c)3 non-profit charity established to raise awareness about prostate cancer, particularly within the beer community. FOBAB is held each year in Chicago, typically on a weekend early in November. The festival primarily pours beers that have been aged on wood or in barrels, ranging from strong, high-ABV imperial stouts and barley wines, to more moderate, but sour and funky barrel-aged sour beers. The festival awards the best barrel-aged beers in multiple categories. Recent editions of FOBAB have added a lager lounge and a non-alcoholic area to offer palates a refresh between the hundreds of palate-wrecking beers. Alaska is not always cold. But it certainly is in January. The Alaska Craft Beer & Barley Wine Festival is held in January each year in Anchorage to spread liquid sunshine during the dark winter. With an emphasis on strong, rich barley wines, the festival keeps festival goers warm as the enjoy local food and live music.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exile Brewing Company wins gold at world beer competition
DES MOINES, Iowa — Exile Brewing Company won gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup. Some metro trails closed because of flash flooding At the World Beer Cup award ceremony held on May 1, Exile Brewing Company took home a gold award for their G.G. brew in the Munich-Style Dunkel beer category. According to Exile, their G.G. brew took home silver at the World Beer Cup in 2024 and has won several other awards at national beer competitions. 'We're proud of our team for their hard work and dedication to our craft,' Joey Hansan, head brewer at Exile, said in a statement. 'It's great to see that recognized with this gold medal from the World Beer Cup.' The World Beer Cup, established by the Brewers Association in 1996, is described as one of the world's most prestigious beer competitions. This year there were over 8,000 entries from over 1,700 breweries across 49 countries. Exile Brewing Company is located in downtown Des Moines. To learn more about the company and see a list of their brews visit their website. Metro News: MercyOne releases statement about split with Medical Center Anesthesiologists Exile Brewing Company wins gold at world beer competition Des Moines churches can act as emergency homeless shelters following council approval Des Moines police investigating shooting in gas station parking lot One dead in morning crash west of Bondurant Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
IndyStar to join Conner Prairie for unique History on Tap craft beer experience
Indiana's craft breweries produced more than 233,000 barrels of beer in 2024, creating an economic impact of nearly $1.5 billion, according to the Brewers Association national trade group. Today, more than 200 craft breweries operate in the state, which experienced a near quadrupling in its craft brewer ranks since 2011. And while Broad Ripple Brewpub in Indianapolis is the state's longest operating microbrewery, having opened in 1990, Indiana's commercial brewing history dates back to 1819, when, according to the Indiana Historical Society, German settlers in New Harmony began selling their surplus beer in the town on the banks of the Wabash River. Now, regardless of whether we've just schooled you on Hoosier craft beer history, or if you can write a dissertation on the differences between Zombie Dust and Zombie Ice, IndyStar is proud to announce our partnership with an annual event that's sure to enlighten and entertain Central Indiana craft beer lovers. Conner Prairie's' popular History on Tap craft beer event returns in 2025 from 6-10 p.m. June 6. Attendees will sample the creations of more than 20 Indiana craft brewers while strolling the Fishers living history museum's grounds and taking in music, food, activities and historical reenactments centered on Indiana's long and lively brewing history. General admission tickets for the 12th annual History on Tap event run $75 for non-members and $65 for Conner Prairie members at with $20 admission for designated drivers. All participants must be age 21 or older. As a Growler Partner in this year's event, IndyStar will be on hand to enhance the fun. Attendees are encouraged to stop by our booth to meet our news and marketing staff, participate fun activities, and snap selfies at our interactive photo stations at the event. IndyStar readers can also look forward to some additional local brewery information from dining and drinks reporter Bradley Hohulin, your friend inside Central Indiana's culinary scene. Part of reporting on a community is being part of that community, and like last summer when IndyStar launched a reader advisory panel and held in-person events at Indiana Fever games and the Indiana State Fair, we're planning some fun community events as the weather heats up. This year, IndyStar readers can plan on hearing about another IndyStar night with the Fever, in-person events on our free ticket day at the fair, and a few other offerings that we'll announce later. Our dedicated news staff, both those new to the area and those who have called Indianapolis home for decades, are looking forward to meeting you out on the town. Thank you for reading IndyStar. Eric Larsen is IndyStar executive editor. Reach him at ericlarsen@ This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyStar to join Conner Prairie for History on Tap craft beer event
