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The World's Best Stout—According To The International Beer And Cider Awards

Six different stout categories were honored at this year's International Beer and Cider Awards. The world's best stouts were recently honored in six subcategories at The International Beer and Cider Awards, a competition run by The North American Brewers Association, an organization that advocates in favor of all things craft-beer related. For this year's competition, judges tasted 1436 entries in early June in Idaho Falls. I've previously written about award-winning pilsners, lagers and IPAs at this competition. Now it's time to turn to the dark side and take a closer look at the stouts that took home gold medals. The award-winning stouts came from across the country, but as is common at beer competitions, the region around where the competition was held had a particularly strong showing, as geography can influence what breweries contribute beers. Stouts remain a popular style at beer competitions, though not as popular as IPAs, pilsners or lagers. Of late, stout sales have also lagged behind other more trendy styles in craft beer. However, Guinness sales have skyrocketed in recent years, and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a trickle-down effect to the craft brewing world. The best stouts that were honored at this year's International Beer and Cider Awards include dry stouts, sweet stouts and range from coffee stouts to imperial stouts and barrel-aged stouts. As stout drinkers know, there's a huge amount of variation between these different styles. The North American Brewers Association only awards three medals per category: gold, silver and bronze. So every top stout was an elite one. Though as I always say, in my experience, although every gold medal-winning beer is a great beer, not every great beer wins a gold medal. Many elite breweries don't submit their beer to competitions because they lack the marketing budget or don't think beer should be a competition, or both. So use the beers below as the beginning and not the end of your best stout search. The Best Stouts of 2025 Dry Stout Stud Stacker Sawdust and Steel Brewing, Three Forks, MT Sweet Stout and Oatmeal Stout Wolf Oatmeal Stout, Idaho Brewing Company, Idaho Falls, Idaho Foreign-style Stout and America-style Stout Gold Crux Stout, Crux Fermentation Project, Bend, Oregon Imperial Stout Drioma, Redrock Brewing, Salt Lake City, Utah Barrel Aged, Strong Stout Phases of the Moon, Uprise Brewing, Spokane, WA Coffee Stout Mothership Drip, Uganda Melvin Brewing, Alpine, WY Stout Drinking In The Summer Summer may not exactly be a time of year traditionally associated with stout drinking, but to a stout enthusiast, there is never a bad time to drink dark beer. And despite common perceptions, a beer's color isn't always a sign of how light and refreshing tasting it can be. I find that unless I am standing in the direct sunlight, I tend to enjoy whatever beer I happen to be in the mood for, regardless of seasonality. So grab a stout even in July or August, if you're craving one.