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Top 112 Dark Beers
Dark beers are a fascinating and varied subcategory that spans a wide breadth of styles from sours to porters to stouts to black IPAs.
#21
97
by Michael Bury
Seedstock Dusseldorf Alt
Seedstock Brewery
#20
97
by John C. Tull
Brewery Lane Series: Barrel Aged Imperial Cherry Stout
Breckenridge Brewery
A stunning combination of barrel-aged elements, a typically thick and creamy imperial stout base style and montmorency cherries, this inky black brew features a smorgasbord of enjoyable and delicious flavor and aroma combinations. Aged in 50 percent whiskey barrels and 50 percent port wine barrels, the two major ingredients each complement each other: the cherries help to pick up and enhance the port wine barrel and the malt-forward imperial stout elements help to fortify the whiskey barrel notes. Stellar.
#19
97
by Josh Weikert
Wild Sour Series: Flanders Red
DESTIHL Brewery
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Brewer Q & A
Yet another amazing canned dark beer, DESTIHL Brewery out of Normal, Illinois offers one of the finest Flanders Red made on American soil with its Wild Sour Series: Flanders Red. An eye-catching can design prepares drinkers for a zesty, clean beer that features all the complexity and supremely tart character one would expect from a Flanders Red style, all in a container that can be transported with ease and enjoyed on the beach or even tailgating at a summer sporting event. Modern craft beer is great!
#18
97
by Brad Darnell
Imperial Peanut Butter Korova
Gnarly Barley Brewing Co.
#17
97
by Michael Heniff
Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout
Stone Brewing Co.
A yearly collaboration beer between Stone Brewing co-founder and CEO Greg Koch, actor and internet celebrity Wil Wheaton and founder of Fark.com Drew Curtis, this boozy barrel-aged beauty features all of the stylistic elements one would expect from a barrel-aged imperial stout. We reviewed the 2016 release, but this beer has been made since 2013 with various different barrels.
#16
97
by Michael Heniff
N10 Imperial Blended Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company
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Brewer Q & A
Perhaps the most complex beer on this entire list, N10 Imperial Blended Ale from Ninkasi Brewing Co. was brewed in celebration of the brewery's 10th anniversary in 2016 and is an incredible blend of five distinctly different beer styles. According to the brewery, N10 is made up of "50% Imperial Stout, 10% Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, 12.5% Imperial Total Domination IPA, 12.5% Imperial Maiden the Shade IPA, and 15% Critical Hit Barleywine." The result is a beer with a caramel malt backbone and enough complexity to keep a drinker engrossed (and enough alcohol content to keep them buzzed) for many hours. With all of those disparate styles, this beer's profile will only develop and change over time, making it an excellent option for aging in a beer cellar.
#15
97
by Jason Johnson
Alexander
Brouwerij Rodenbach
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Brewer Q & A
The highest-scoring sour beer on this list, Brouwerij Rodenbach's Alexander is an exceedingly hard-to-find Flanders Red that features all the delightfully tart and complex elements one would expect from a large-format Rodenbach cork-and-cage 750-ml bottle. Matured in oak casks with sour cherries for 24 months, this beer has been released sparingly and first debuted over 30 years ago in 1986. An exceedingly difficult-to-find white whale, Rodenbach Alexander lives up to the hype and showcases the world-class talents of Rudi Ghequire, Brouwerij Rodenbach's master brewer.
#14
97
by Brad Darnell
Smooth Operator Peanut Butter Porter
Low Road Brewing
#13
97
by Sean Coughlin
Mexican Empire
Arches Brewing
#12
97
by Dan Preston
Maple Tripple Ale
Lawson's Finest Liquids
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Brewer Q & A
Anyone who's ever visited Vermont knows they have some pretty great maple syrup up there. Any craft beer fan who's visited Vermont knows that Lawson's Finest Liquids produces some of the finest brews in the state (or New England in general). With those two facts in mind, Sean Lawson of Lawson's Finest decided to combine those two things into one of the best dark beers ever conceived. This beer is brewed without water, focusing on barley, hops, ale yeast and using local maple sap from various farms in Vermont. The result is a difficult beer to categorize, but it is certainly dark and certainly delicious.