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USA Today
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
6 best imperial stouts of Great Taste of the Midwest 2025
Imperial stouts haven't quite reached the ubiquitous heights of big, bitter pale ales in the craft brewing explosion of the 2000s and early 2010s. Still, it seems like freeing a bold, boozy, thick-pouring stout from its oak stave prison is a badge of honor for rising and established breweries alike. Despite sharing common threads, there's a lovely amount of room to branch out across the realm of these dark beers. Goose Island frequently stretches its Bourbon County Stout lineup six deep each Black Friday. 3 Floyds has no fewer than 15 different variations of its Dark Lord in Beer Advocate's review database. Unsurprisingly, that meant there was plenty of room for dense, dark stouts clocking in around 15 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) at the 2025 Great Taste of the Midwest. The Great Taste is a beer nerd's wonderland, and brewers contributed to this boozy nirvana with plenty of imperial stouts to serve as the bold break between pale ales and pils. On Thursday, I broke down 2025's best non-stout beers here. Now let's talk about the imperial stouts that made the biggest impact on me at one of the world's best beer festivals. 3 Floyd's Dark Lord Marshmallow Handjee '24 imperial stout The first sip is an explosion of flavor. Of course it is; it's what 3 Floyds does best. You get those big soft s'mores notes, but most importantly you get a little bit of crispness to finish each gulp. This really ups the replay value of a heavy beer in a way that matters, allowing you an experience that betrays the 15.6 percent ABV underneath. The only giveaway this is a beer you should probably stop at two with is the dense, dark body and unmistakable smell of bourbon barrel aging floating off the top. 3 Sheeps' The Wolf 2025 imperial stout The Wolf was my first imperial stout of the day -- a foreboding task when it's 88 degrees out and sunny. It poured big and boozy, with a lovely copper head atop a dark coffee pour. The smell is split between bourbon and chocolate, with just a little sweet fruit (maybe cherry?) floating skyward. The first sip? Absolutely lovely. Despite the lack of carbonation in a thicker style of beer, if comes across your lips gently. Some barrel-aged stouts feel like a chore to drink. Not The Wolf. It's sweet but not overpoweringly so. It's boozy but not to the point where you'd stop yourself after one or even two. This beer is a problem in the best way. I am a fan. Pilot Project Brewing's Stave + Maple imperial stout This was a late pick-up -- probably a point where a boozy 12.5 percent ABV barrel-aged stout wasn't a great idea. But it sounded great and Pilot Project offered an opportunity to check in with a new brewery. The beer poured as dense as you'd expect. The smell leaned heavily into the whiskey-ringed oak where it reached maturity, but underneath was juuuuuust enough waffle vibes to let you know where this was going. Despite the thickness, this was very drinkable. The heaviness of the pour doesn't translate to your tongue. You get that maple sweetness with just enough Christmas vibes -- some cinnamon, a little chocolate and some spices. That all sounds like a lot, and it sounds exhausting. Pilot Project found a way to make it feel fresh with each sip. Revolution Brewing's Ryeway to Heaven imperial stout and X-Hero imperial IPA Allow me to cheat here. The Ryeway is a barleywine. The X-Hero is an imperial IPA. Both are big and boozy and, at the very least, Ryeway felt like it belonged. Let's roll with it. Barleywines typically aren't my jam, but Revolution delivered a flavor profile I love. The Ryeway gives you a dense, flavorful and sweet package of those cereal grains that can be a bit overwhelming at times. That would be an issue if this didn't clock in at 15 percent ABV, but it's clear you're dealing with a sipper that's not meant to be drank more than one or two at a time. You end up with a beer that's heavy in texture but lighter on your tongue. Heavy chocolate and malt flavors dance around to give you the impression you're drinking a special occasion beer. The X-Hero was exactly the kind of hit you'd expect from Revolution's "Hero" series. My first sip ended with an audible "whoa" as heavy tropical fruit flavors carried me away before a tight wave of hops snapped things off with some balancing bitterness. It never felt like a 10 percent ABV beer, but making big and boozy feel light and flavorful is Revolution's whole jam. Toppling Goliath's 2025 Koselig imperial stout The smell off the top of this was rich raisins, a little bit of rum and a lot of bourbon barrel influence. It's rich, sweet and decadent. As has become a theme with the cream of the crop imperial stouts, everything here is lighter than you'd expect. You get a little bit of that 14.7 percent ABV up front, but it does little to flatten the flavors that come after it. The opening is boozy raisin and bread pudding. The finish is sweet, warm whiskey. That's a teeter-totter that shows off Toppling Goliath's range and reminds me, yet again, why the Decorah, Iowa brewer has established its place in my circle of trust. Une Annee/Hubbard's Cave Brewery's El Zacaton imperial stout Spicy. That was the first impression of this beer. Une Annee set itself apart from the field of big, boozy stouts with peppers -- guajillo, ancho and, importantly, habanero. With that and some chocolate and vanilla notes, you wind up with a mole-inspired beer. Neat. Despite that tang, the taste here makes it very easy to come back to. Each sip reminds you it's a high ABV beer -- it doesn't hide its booze nearly as well as its peers. At the same time, those rich flavors reward you with something unique for branching out and trying something new. You're left to deal with sweet chocolate notes, earthy spices and just a little bit of heat you'd expect from a habanero stout. That's an underserved category, in large part because there's a huge capacity for things to go wrong. Une Annee/Hubbard's Cafe took a big swing and it paid off. It's weird. It works.
USA Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
9 best beers I drank at the Great Taste of the Midwest 2025
Madison, Wisconsin -- A blue sky turned grey. The clouds opened up. At an outdoor beer festival hosting thousands, no one left. A brief downpour may have kept people inside the open-sided tents at the Great Taste of the Midwest, but no one headed for the exit. The bands unlucky enough to be playing under trees -- in my case, a trio doing nothing but beer-themed Beatles parodies -- hastily waterproofed their equipment under plastic before grabbing their glasses and headed to drier, boozier ground. Half an hour later, when the sun once again shined on the Great Taste of the Midwest, it was like nothing had even happened. That's the beauty of the Great Taste, a festival that celebrates beer as well as the prevailing notion that people united in their quest for it will be good to each other. There was no mad dash for cover when the storm rolled in, November Rain-style (why does that one guy dive through the cake? What problem did that solve??). Folks made space for their suddenly sopping brethren. Lines continued to move quickly, with polite recommendations, nods and an eye on the rest of the line. Folks got drunk, undoubtedly. They never got surly (unless, of course, they were hanging out by the massive outlay of tents run by Minnesota's Surly Brewing). Maybe I haven't lived in the Midwest long enough to take this for granted. My New England roots suggest five hours of drinking a dense lineup of beers that range up to 15 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) suggests you're gonna have to deal with some jerks. But in this, my fourth go-round at the Great Taste, I continue to solely be confronted by warm faces, friendly smiles and, importantly, people who know the hell out of their beer and want to share that with you. This is all to say the Great Taste of the Midwest is a bucket list event for any beer drinker out there. I had a friend arrive from Columbus, Ohio for seven total hours in Wisconsin -- five of which neatly overlapped with about 30 beers worth of tastings. He flew out of Dane County slightly damp, a little drunk and ultimately content (until his flight got delayed at O'Hare for 12 hours. O'Hare Airport: America's not-so-secret hellmouth since 1944). Now let's talk about those beers. 2025 saw a minor downturn in vendors thanks to the enforcement of a Wisconsin law that effectively taxed brewers north of $1,000 to pour beers in Madison. While that thinned the herd, there were still more than 1,400 brews to sample Saturday. The vast majority were absolutely delightful. Let's talk about those. But first, let's talk about the beers that just missed the cut. About 80 percent of what I tried at the 2025 Great Taste clocked in at four stars or higher. Was some of that the product of a warm, humid day or the fatigue of seven hours of a beer festival? Almost certainly. But it also underlines the undeniable quality of one of the best beer events in the world. The ones that just missed the cut include: Now, onto the nine standouts from a crowded field. These are presented in alphabetical order by brewery. Please note that I tried about 40 beers out of a possible 1,400, so there was so, so much good stuff I missed. Not on purpose, but because my liver was already working overtime. And since there were a bunch of great barrel-aged imperial stouts, I decided to spin that off to its own column later in the week. Stay tuned for that one. 4 Hands' Octohaze New England IPA Well, this is fortunate -- I was down in Saint Louis last week and mildly bummed I couldn't find the Octohaze on tap (in what was, admittedly, a limited scope of bars/restaurants for a family weekend). But here it is, poured by a pair of delightful reps happy to talk about their home base. The smell off the top was light hops for a beer than clocks in a higher than seven percent ABV alongside some vague, sweet citrus. The taste itself was clean and crisp. Those hops cast off a slight bitterness that builds toward the end to snap off each sip cleanly. In between, you get lush fruit notes that braid through the hop count to create a complex beer. Barn Town Brewing's PBJ Strawberry gluten-free sour My notes consisted of a single sentence. "Holy [expletive], it tastes like like a PBJ." Did I fall for the peanut butter/jelly gimmick? Yes. Will this be the last time I get sucked in by a weird, doesn't-taste-like-beer-beer at the Great Taste? Friends, it is not. Eagle Park Brewing's Spekto Kooler and Watermelon Lime Soft Serve seltzers Eagle Park makes very good traditional beers. But they also make absolutely bonkers seltzers that, while not the calorie-conscious offerings of a White Claw or Vizzy, deliver about 3,000 percent more flavor in each sip. And, you guys, what flavors they are. The Watermelon Lime pours like strawberry milk and smells like straight-up sherbet. It's awesome, and the taste backs that up. It's thicker than a traditional seltzer, but enough carbonation pokes through to keep you from feeling too milkshake-y about it. It's not a crushable seltzer, but a rich, indulgent one. The lime brings just enough tart flavor to keep things from getting cloyingly sweet. With this soft serve, Eagle Park took a standard seltzer trope and subverted it to give you something a little weird but undeniably special. The Spekto Kooler was such an easy win for me and my dad friends. It pours the appropriate Hi-C green and brings sweet citrus that lingers through each gulp before being snapped up by a steady current of rising carbonation. This isn't just for 90s kids. It rules. Faklandia's Blue Magic Blueberry IPA Blueberry beers were, oddly enough, key to my drinking development. Newport Storm was one of Rhode Island's first big craft breweries and their flagship leaned into berries. So does SweetWater Blue, which was a constant $2.50 pint at the Flying Saucer in Nashville while I was broke as hell and just trying to get a graduate degree. Blue Magic brings back a lot of those memories, and it's possible these are just Proust's madeleines to my dumb poor brain. Still, the opening sip was crisp and packed with flavor I did not expect from a brewery I hadn't heard of before Saturday. It feels like a very experienced, lived-in beer that's taken years to perfect. The blueberry hits you right up front before giving way to sharper hops that help keep everything in check. It's a wonderful summer drink that pairs well with a warm day but has the structure to be a winner no matter the weather. G5 Brewing's Lack of Color West Coast Pilsner I got clued into this a couple days before the fest when a pair of brewery owners happened to roll through the trivia night I host. Lack of Color was pitched to me as a clean-drinking West Coast Pils with unmistakable notes of cantaloupe. That's the best melon! Make more cantaloupe things! The smell off the top was brisk and fruity. You get malt in the background, some sharp hop flavor poking through and juuuuust a little bit of that melon. The first sip follows suit. The opening is a foyer of cantaloupe, reminding me at least a little of Gatorade's Fierce Melon flavor (it was great). Then the hops kick in to crisply wash that away with a sound, dry finish. It's a flavor profile I've only had a few times in the past. There's a good chance G5 did it better than anyone else in that cohort. North Pillar Brewing's Within Reason imperial IPA Within Reason pours well with quite a Baby Billy amount of rich white foam on top. By the time it settles, those bubbles have cast off boatloads of juicy hops. After properly dunking my nose into the foam (I am a doofus), I got an opening sip that was very hop forward but not aggressively, burn-your-tongue-off bitter. Instead, you get a soft landing for a double IPA. Each pull is crisp and brings a little fruit toward the end that makes this beer very, very easy to keep coming back to. That clean finish leaves you wanting more, beckoning you to dive back into that malty, hoppy and fruity whirlpool from which you came. Combine that with a satisfying, rich-but-not-thick texture and you've got a beer that's a great running mate for a savory meal but can also stand on its own at a tailgate. Pals Brewing's Picklepeno Bloody Mary I love a good, spicy bloody Mary. I also love a good gimmick beer. So when Pals rolled up from Nebraska with a craft beer meant to be mixed with tomato juice (et al) and a couple trays of garnishes (pickles, cheese curds and salami), I was absolutely on board. Fortunately, Pals lived up to the hype. Instead of feeling like you're drinking soup, combining beer with this bloody creates a thin and crushable morning drink. The spice is sharp but minor, giving a nice push-pull with the fruit base of the tomato. The pickle plays much more of a role here, but stops short of the point where it would be annoying. The malt of the beer underneath does let you know this isn't a traditional cocktail, but it's not distracting like other beer-based mixed drinks can be. If I have one complaint it's that I'd like it to be hotter. But that's a standard bloody Mary condition for me -- one easily fixed with a bottle of Tabasco. This is a lovely eye-opener that delivers a little less hair of the dog than your typical vodka-based Mary, but brings big, soft and drinkable flavors with it each step of the way. Sway Brewing + Blending's Longtime Friends Czech Pilsener (from the gravity cask) This poured with a big foamy head -- not exactly a mliko pour, but one that felt true to the beer's origins. As I waited for my pour, the guy behind me in line casually mentioned everything Sway makes is great. That's high praise at an event like the Great Taste. He's right, at least for this specific beer (it's the only one I tried at the booth). The smell off the top was crisp, clean lager. At 4.2 percent ABV you expect a crushable brew that delivers more flavor than a similarly strong light beer. Longtime Friends brings that in spades. Each sip is bright and full-bodied, giving off a good amount of malt, some sweet honey and juuuuuust a little bit of fruit. The combination is fresh and invigorating, the kind of beer that perks you back up despite its qualities as a depressant. I could drink this all day, and I have to think that's exactly what Sway was going for. Working Draft's Hindsight German pils Working Draft has a special place in my heart. The local Madison-based brewer stepped up after Vox laid off a bunch of my SB Nation colleagues (and me, naturally) to make a Moon Crew IPA in honor of the side project my fellow umemployeds put together that Covid-wrecked summer. Very cool stuff. The brewery may be best known for its pale ales, but this pils is immediately appetizing. The smell off the pour is brisk and malty, making it feel like the perfect antidote to an 85 degree day. You get a little bit of hops in the opening sip, but it floats atop that current of golden malt to be the cantilever on the other side of a beer that would otherwise be a touch too sweet. It's great in the heat, but stands up on its own to be drinkable regardless of the situation.
USA Today
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Best Beer Festival (2025) - USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards
Photo courtesy of Scott Mauer No. 10: Great Taste of the Midwest - Madison, Wisconsin One of the longest-running beer events in North America, this craft beer festival brings around 200 of the Midwest's finest craft brewers to Madison each year. Attendees can taste some 1,400 beers, attend beer-centric seminars, and sample foods from local vendors, all while strolling through a beautiful park overlooking Lake Monona. Photo courtesy of FilippoBacci / E+ No. 9: Blacktoberfest - Durham, North Carolina This annual beer festival in Durham, North Carolina, celebrates Black culture within the craft beer community. Organized by Black Brew Culture and Proximity Brewing Company in partnership with Black-owned and BIPOC businesses, it features a month-long showcase of craft beer, live entertainment, and culinary events. Photo courtesy of Christopher Malloy No. 8: Brave Brews Festival - Auburn, New York Brave Brews Festival in Auburn, New York, celebrates women and nonbinary individuals in the craft beer industry. The event is inspired by the Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day, an annual ritual at Prison City that kicks off Women's History Month. Not only can you sample some of the top beers created by women and nonbinary brewers in the New York beer industry, you'll be able to check out Prison City's fantastic Fire & Ice Festival, where tons of ice gets carved into sculptures, drink luges, and courtyard games. It's the coolest event in town. Photo courtesy of Tailspin Ale Fest No. 7: Tailspin Ale Fest - Louisville, Kentucky Tailspin Ale Fest in Louisville is all about beer and planes — and it's a great way to warm up in the dead of winter. Beer enthusiasts and flight fanatics gather around a display of World War II-era aircraft at Bowman Field and sample from over 250 craft beers from more than 50 breweries. Attendees also enjoy live music and some of Louisville's best food trucks. Photo courtesy of Garrett Poulos No. 6: Brewgaloo - Raleigh, North Carolina North Carolina's largest craft beer festival, the two-day Brewgaloo showcases over 110 craft breweries from across the state. This festival in Raleigh, which attracts more than 60,000 people, also features local artisans, food trucks, vendors, and live music. Photo courtesy of Jose Manchola No. 5: Snallygaster - Washington, D.C. Advertised as "the East Coast's greatest beer festival," this sell-out, full-day event features some 450 small-batch craft beers from more than 175 producers. Live music and food trucks round out the offerings at this monster beer fest on Pennsylvania Avenue. Photo courtesy of Brewers Association No. 4: Great American Beer Festival - Denver, Colorado For more than 40 years, Denver has hosted the Great American Beer Festival, bringing together hundreds of breweries for beer education, awareness of beer trends, networking, research, the chance to sample from the largest annual U.S. beer selection, and pure fun. The festival is also a competition— medals are awarded in more than 90 categories. Photo courtesy of Bryan Cook No. 3: Kill The Lights - Knoxville, Tennessee If you like your beer festivals big, head to Knoxville, where XUL Beer Company invites some of the country's top-tier brewers for Kill The Lights fest. Started in 2022, this event brings more than 70 different breweries to one spot, with tents set up in the parking lot and warehouse. XUL also provides music, food, and all the beery cheer necessary to make this one of the premier events for serious beer geeks seeking to sip the best of the best. Photo courtesy of Epicast No. 2: Barrel & Flow Fest - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania During Pittsburgh's Barrel & Flow Fest, some 3,000 craft beer industry professionals and enthusiasts come together for a weekend celebrating Black-owned breweries. The event also includes collaborations with Black artists and entrepreneurs from throughout Pennsylvania and the United States.
