American Stout

Organic Survival 7-Grain Stout

Hopworks Urban Brewery ABV: 5.3%

Hewn from barley, wheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa, spelt, and kamut (the namesake seven grains), Survival pours as black as a funeral shroud, offset by creamy mocha foam. It smells of cocoa and strong, dark-roasted coffee—the beer is finished with cold-pressed organic Holler Mountain coffee from the cult roaster Stumptown. There’s ample roasted java piloting the flavor profile, but Survival remains as rich and as silky as an angel’s robe, with hops providing a nicely bittersweet close. We could happily live on Survival for days.

Tres Blueberry Stout

Dark Horse Brewing Co. ABV: Varies

To combat seasonal depression, Michigan’s Dark Horse devised a quintet of stouts, each of which I recommend. There’s an oatmeal stout, a cream stout, a smoked stout, an imperial stout, and, most deliciously, a blueberry stout. Like a DNA experiment gone deliciously right, the fruit intertwines with flavors of chocolate and roast malt, resulting in a most unusual, most wonderful hybrid.