American-Style Stout

« View all styles

Location:North American
Category:Ale
BJCP Comparable Category:20B - American Stout

Beer Style Description

This is the description of how the American-Style Stout style of beer should taste, feel and look. However, there may be perfectly fine beers in this style that fall outside of these ranges and descriptions. This information is just to show the most commonly accepted ranges for the American-Style Stout beer style.

Head retention should be persistent

  • Color: Black
  • Body: Medium to full
  • Malt Flavors & Aromas: Coffee-like roasted barley and roasted malt aromas are prominent. Low to medium malt sweetness with low to medium caramel, chocolate, and/or roasted coffee flavor should be present, with a distinct dry-roasted bitterness in the finish. Astringency from roasted malt and roasted barley is low. Slight roasted malt acidity is acceptable.
  • Hop Flavors & Aromas: Medium to high, often with citrusy and/or resiny hop qualities typical of many American hop varieties.
  • IBUs/Bitterness: Medium to high
  • Fermentation Characteristics: Fruity esters are low. Diacetyl is usually absent in these beers but may be present at very low levels.
  • Common Ingredients: Common American base malts and yeast. Varied use of dark and roasted malts, as well as caramel-type malts. Adjuncts such as oatmeal may be present in low quantities. American hop varieties.
  • Commercial Examples: Avery Out of Bounds Stout, Deschutes Obsidian Stout, North Coast Old No. 38, Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Sierra Nevada Stout

Brewing Properties of American-Style Stout

These are the functional brewing properties of American-Style Stout beers, as descided by the Brewers Association. These guidelines reflect, as accurately as possible, the historical significance, authenticity or a common profile in the current commercial beer market.

ABV
The alcohol by volume is shows the amount of alcohol this style of beer should have.
5.7 - 8.0%
Bitterness
The International Bittering Units (IBU) scale is used to approximately quantify the actual (not perceived) bitterness of beer.
35 - 60 IBUs
SRM
SRM is a scale for measuring the color intensity of a beer. Low SRM grains impart a pale straw color while higher values mean it will add a darker color to the wort. Learn more »
40 SRM
(79 EBC)
Original Gravity
Original Gravity (OG) is a measure of the sugar content in the wort before alcoholic fermentation has started to produce the beer.
1.050 - 1.075
Final Gravity
The Final Gravity (FG) is how much sugar is left over in the beer when fermentation is complete.
1.010 - 1.022

If you see an error in our data, please let us know!

Based on Brewers Association 2020 Beer Style Guidelines with changes. Used with permission of Brewer's Association.