As all serious beer drinkers know, Guinness is the 800-pound gorilla of the stout world. You can’t say stout without thinking of Guinness. Still, is it the best stout in the world? Not in my book. There are far too many other interesting stouts available today, and one that has always given Guinness a huge run for it’s money is Sierra Nevada Stout, a classic American interpretation of a classic old-world style.

Sierra Nevada Stout pours to a deep black color with a minimal head formation and a tremendous roasty nose. The palate simply brings roasted malt flavor to a new dimension. This beer is hugely roasty, packed with coffee and a bit of chocolate. What really distinguishes this stout, however, is the big, grassy hop Chinooks finish. It tingles the tongue with minty bitterness and lingers for quite some time.

This is nothing new for Sierra Nevada. Their Bigfoot Barleywine also incorporates a “wall of hops” into a previously less hoppy style. For this stout, Chinooks are used for bittering, Cascades for aroma. The point at which hops are added to the boil in the brew kettle will to a large degree determine what they add to a brew, though the hops themselves will have characteristics that will influence this too. Hops added near the end of the boil will impart aromatics, or floral traits. Earlier additions mean that there is increased extraction of alpha acids from the hops, resulting in more bitterness.

Though stouts are often perceived as being higher in alcohol content, this is not usually the case. Sierra Nevada’s Stout is slightly higher than average at 5.8% by volume. Most beers run about 5%. This stout will actually improve with age. It is bottle conditioned, and the hops will mellow with the passage of time. Being the hop lover that I am, I really enjoy the beer young too.

Sierra Nevada makes stone-ground mustard with this stout that is quite excellent. I don’t get a lot of the stout character in the mustard, and to be quite frank I’m not sure that the addition of beer to mustard adds appreciably to it. The mustard, however, is a far better complement to food in my opinion than the beer is, which I feel is best enjoyed on it’s own. That said, a warm soft pretzel slathered with Sierra Nevada Stone Ground Stout Mustard would probably go well with this brew.