The beers that first drew me into the world of craft brewing were stouts and porters. Larry Bell’s Porter, Kalamazoo Stout, and Expedition Stout blew my 21-year-old mind, convincing me that there was deep magic in dark beer. These beers were complex, loaded with specialty malts, and full of rich, roasty chocolate and coffee character—a bittersweet taste explosion.
They were the polar opposites of every other beer I’d experienced up to that time, inspiring me to seek out and learn about the Irish and British brewing origins of stout. That lead me to the classics: Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Young’s Oatmeal Stout, Mackeson Triple XXX Stout, and, of course, Guinness Draught and Foreign Extra Stout.
I remember being mesmerized by nitrogenated pours of Guinness Draught and fascinated by the incredible drinkability of something so dark and roasty—a beer you can drink all night. I tried my hand at homebrewing stout, and I gravitated toward session-strength oatmeal stouts. These soon became my favorite malt-forward beers to brew and drink.