Each week on the Tavour app, we highlight top-notch beers from independent craft breweries across the U.S. — and sometimes even from abroad! Here are just a few of the lavish Stouts we shared with beer lovers recently. Have you scheduled your beer delivery yet?

Untitled Art Brewing - This $+OU+ Just Got Serious - Imperial Pastry Stout

In downtown Madison, Wisconsin, there’s an adorable, family-owned ice cream parlor called Chocolate Shoppe. They’ve been delighting locals since 1962 with their premium flavors, and they’re the sweet inspiration behind this 4.28 UT-Rated Imperial Stout, This $+OU+ Just Got Serious.

The confectioners at Untitled Art packed it with chocolate, cocoa nibs, vanilla, caramel, lactose, AND real melted ice cream! They used one of Chocolate Shoppe’s award-winning flavors, “This $&@! Just Got Serious” — a mouthwatering blend of creamy, salted caramel ice cream, rich sea salt fudge, and salted cashews. 

This Stout is so thick and velvety-smooth, we’re tempted to pour it into a milkshake glass and slurp it through a straw! The only problem with that is, this boozy brew’s 11% ABV would end up hittin’ us quicker than a brain freeze. 

So, maybe we’ll skip the straw — but nothing can keep us from shaking up a canister of whipped cream and using an extra-long Red Robin milkshake spoon! 

Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. - Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer

“Hygge” is a Danish word that describes warm comfort, kinship, and contentment. It’s the glow of candlelight on a cold winter’s night; the smell of fresh baked sugar cookies; the sound of presents being unwrapped under the tree. 

Now Rahr & Sons have captured “hygge” in every decadent taste of their Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer. The brewers did an amazing job of putting this seasonal feeling into drink form — it’s BeerAdvocate’s #1 rated Winter Warmer!

As an English Style Dark Ale, Bourbon Barrel pours velvety, thick, and rich. Toasty hits of caramel toffee, molasses, and fresh-brewed coffee waft up to entice the senses. At first sip, a smooth bloom of bourbon and oaky vanilla comes through, thanks to 12 weeks of aging in just-emptied bourbon barrels.

Swirls of dark malts and English hops compliment all that warm booziness — and thanks to a spirited 11% ABV, it’ll fill you with extra good cheer. It’s sheer cozy magic enjoyed in a snifter, gazing through a frost-laden window with some Bing Crosby playing in the background.  

Those who’ve had past versions of Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer know this isn’t one to miss: 

  • “This is one of the creamiest and smoothest beers I've enjoyed in a long, long time.”@beergot
  • “A really well made winter warmer, possibly one of the best I've had.” @LiquidAmber
  • “This will be my go-to beer every winter.” @Neeros

Lake Effect Brewing Company - Fannie's Chocolate Cake Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout (2020)

Remember the scene in the movie Matilda, where the principle forces a kid to eat an entire 18” chocolate cake in front of the whole school, just because he stole a slice from her office?

Well, that kid’s sensory overload doesn’t come close to what you can experience from Fannie’s Chocolate Cake Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout! The craft confectioners at Lake Effect brewed this boozy behemoth with creamy milk sugar and EIGHT CHOCOLATE CAKES! That’s enough chocolate to satisfy my cravings for a whole year!

They procured these decadent cakes from their favorite local bakery, Fannie’s Cafe. Each fudge and vanilla-laced sip is like savoring a bite of rich Devil’s Food, followed by a shot of caramelly bourbon.

It’s causing craft fans like @Justin L. to rave, “Making the belly warm and the body buzzed.”

Which is exactly what we want OUR chocolate cake to do. 

Zipline Brewing Co. - Barrel-Aged Calavera Stout

Get ready for a fiesta, Stout fans, because it’s that time again! The magical month when Zipline Brewing takes Nebraska craft devotees on a flavor journey south of the border with Barrel-Aged Calavera Mexican Chocolate Stout!

Of course, actually ditching old man winter by heading down to those little latitudes probably isn’t going to happen right now. But, you can TRICK your taste buds into thinking you’re sipping a Mexican hot chocolate on a veranda in Cancún with today’s spicy, fudgy, boozy brew.

The Zipline crew stuffed this limited annual release with rich vanilla and cacao nibs, real cinnamon, and 5 different kinds of chili peppers, so every sip is like cracking open a flavor piñata. To top it all off, they let it slumber in top-shelf Bourbon Barrels until notes of oak and whiskey enriched the brew with dense layers of vanilla and gooey caramel.

It really does taste like a spiked Mexican hot chocolate! And, the 13.8% ABV is so well disguised, you’ll only notice it as a gentle warmth that starts in your belly and works its way out to your fingertips in a wave of relaxation. 

Main & Mill Brewing Company - Lil' Jifforia - Fat Elvis - Pastry Stout

This Stout is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! 

Reese’s and bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

We can’t help it! Each sip of today’s cacao nib, lactose, peanut butter — and banana(!) — loaded Pastry Stout has us singing out in delighted glee. 

You could toss all these ingredients in a blender, and it probably still wouldn’t sip down as dreamily as this Stout. It’s like a nutty mocha mousse topped with sweet banana slices! 

As @Sean goes so far as to rave, “Greatest invention since alcohol!”

The brew’s name? Lil’ Jifforia - Fat Elvis. It’s a special release from the craft connoisseurs at Main & Mill Brewing. With every indulgent mouthful, I can understand why Sauce Magazine praises this crew as one of the Best-Kept Secrets in St. Louis Beer, and they don’t even brew within city limits!

And, one of the best things about this Pastry Stout? It clocks in at an easygoing 5.5% ABV. That means, we can keep sipping and singing “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” all night long!

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