Baker’s chocolate and cinnamon aroma with a touch of leathery sherry. Taste is classic American imperial stout. Well-rounded edges. Roast, barrel, residual sugars are all in balance. Dried dates, dark chocolate, dry espresso, touch of toasted coconut. A really good example of a classic barrel-aged stout.

“Cab-like aromas of huckleberry, black pepper, bread crust, and a hint of roasted malt. Pleasant alcohol in flavor juxtaposed with vanilla, caramel, and chocolate flavors, with mild roast supporting. A tad thick, but plenty drinkable in small pours.”

Courtesy of Michael Kane, founder of Kane Brewing in Ocean, New Jersey, this imperial stout recipe meant for aging in a spirits barrel is based on their award-winning A Night to End All Dawns.

Kölsch is the ideal style to reach for when you need to recharge your taste buds with a lighter, refreshing beer.

This imperial stout is designed by Weldwerks Brewing Co.'s Head Brewer, Neil Fisher, specifically for aging with roasted cacao nibs and vanilla beans to create a rich, decadent, and complex beer that features notes of bittersweet, dark, and milk chocolate.

From Kelly Montgomery, co-owner and head brewer of Cincinnati’s Third Eye—a frequent medal-winner for their stouts—this richly layered recipe includes a range of flavorful dark malts plus additions of lactose, cacao nibs, and vanilla.

From layering malts to selecting and infusing adjuncts, Third Eye co-owner and head brewer Kelly Montgomery lays out their medal-winning approach to planning and brewing rich, flavorful stouts.

Geoff Coleman’s dark and ominous Russian imperial stout fills your senses with huge notes of coffee, chocolate, dark fruits, and rich roasted malts.

SB stands for “stout base.” With thanks to Bluewood Brewing owner-brewer Cam Lund, this is a homebrew-scale recipe for one of five base imperial stouts that they use for their blending stock.

Derek Gallanosa (formerly) of Abnormal Beer Co. in San Diego brews this imperial stout base before giving it treatments such as vanilla, coffee, coconut, and more.

From Obelisk Beer of Astoria, Oregon, comes this prototype homebrew-scale recipe for a black barleywine that combines flavorful aspects of both barleywine and stout.

This recipe from Drinkers for Ukraine includes grist percentages but leaves the strength up to the brewer—Jump Ship in Edinburgh, Scotland, even brewed an alcohol-free version, taking “anti-imperial” in another direction. We, on the other hand, went big.

With some thought and planning, big dessert stouts are well within reach of extract brewers. Here's a recipe featuring vanilla, pecan, cacao, and plenty of toasted coconut.

Jack Hendler of Jack’s Abby Brewing offers a few tips for brewing Baltic porters.

Earthy yet sweet, beets can add color, fermentable sugar, and comfort to your next brew—an anti-imperial stout, perhaps?

Belgian candi syrup and PNW hops provide a sweet, rich springboard for the deep nuttiness of local black walnuts in this imperial stout.

Oklahoma City’s Big Friendly is a two-time Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival, in 2022 and 2023. Here’s a recipe for the imperial stout—no adjuncts, not yet barrel-aged—that serves as the base for Vanilla Boom, one of our Best 20 Beers in 2024.

Cy Bevenger used the London water profile as the basis for his tasty Russian imperial stout.

From Bottle Logic founder and brewmaster Wes Parker, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for their beloved barrel-aged, vanilla-laced imperial stout.

From Seventh Son Brewing Co. (Columbus, Ohio), here’s a homebrew-scaled recipe for a cocoa- and vanilla-infused imperial stout with a hefty dose of salt.