From Doc Martens’ 1460 boots and Chuck Taylor sneakers to the KitchenAid mixer and Barcelona chair, some things are simply timeless. Excellent ideas exude a sense of style that transcends fleeting fashions. And I can think of no better example of a style with staying power than stout.
While today’s stout is as likely to be a powerful, barrel-aged snifter of elixir as it is the familiar pint of plain, a well-crafted stout is equally at home in the twenty-first century as its predecessors were in the Georgian and Victorian eras. A complex ale that’s as enduring as it is versatile, stout’s origins may be opaque, but its enduring popularity is brilliantly clear.
Peer beneath the ebony exterior, and you’ll discover why, from Kilkenny to Kansas City, there’s never been a better time for a black celebration.