Brett Keating
Dec 21, 2022
The history of stouts is long and – fittingly – opaque. Brewers first began brewing “stout porters” in the early 1700s, and Guinness began exporting something pretty similar to what we think of today as a Dry Stout in the early 19th century, when they started using black patent malt to get that characteristic black coloring.
And that’s pretty much the one thing that all stouts have in common: their coloring. Because saying “I like stouts” is a bit like saying “I like IPAs”; the term covers a wide range of beers, ranging from threeish- to 20ish-percent ABV. They’re typically roasty in flavor, and rich, smooth, and fairly creamy in mouthfeel; they are also frequently bitter, but anyone that’s tasted Firestone Walker’s Nitro Merlin milk stout or a bourbon barrel-aged Bottle Logic beer knows that they can be sweet as candy.
One thing we can say for sure: Southern California breweries in LA, Orange, and Ventura Counties have been producing some of the most interesting, imaginative, and well-brewed dark beers in the game for the past decade. These are our nine favorite stout breweries in SoCal.
The Bruery
717 Dunn Way | Placentia
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A conversation about The Bruery’s stouts couldn’t start anywhere but with Black Tuesday, the 20-percent ABV bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout that was born from “the most miserable day in the history of The Bruery,” a 16-hour mishap-filled brew day in 2009. And it’s not just that Black Tuesday is an incredible beer – shockingly complex for its high octane, and both deeply rich and elegant – it’s also that this beer exemplifies the decade-plus of work and expertise The Bruery has put into the art of barrel-aging beer. Now, Black Tuesday, and its adjuncted offshoots, variants, and successors, make up the core of a Bruery stout program run by Director of Production James Bruner, and Cellar Manager Micah Rush, that can go toe-to-toe with any in the country.
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Highland Park Brewery
1220 N Spring St | Downtown LA
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There are specialists, and there are generalists; Highland Park Brewery is the ultimate generalist. In addition to making excellent (and award-winning) lagers, IPAs, spontaneous fermentation sours, and even, in recent years, wines, Highland Park Brewery has an unsurprisingly excellent barrel program. What makes these beers stand out is their remarkable consistency. Whether it’s the tremendously smooth and sweet Luxury, aged in bourbon barrels with vanilla, the high-octane cuvee Infinitefinite, or the adjunct-free, pure spirit-forward The Peregrine – aged 29 months across two barrelings – this is a brewery where you can have confidence in whatever stout they’re putting out.
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Beachwood Brewing
210 E 3rd St | Long Beach
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Beachwood co-owner and Brewmaster Julian Shrago isn’t afraid to be ahead of the curve (or in some cases, staying way behind it) – which is why it should come as no surprise that Beachwood Brewing has been brewing stouts for longer than most LA breweries have existed. Onyx, their motor-oil black stout with a silky smooth mouthfeel was first brewed in 2011, and has been brewed regularly since then. On the historical end of the spectrum, Beachwood also has a unique commitment to other more traditional styles; both Kilgore, a beautifully rye-malty and shockingly hoppy American milk stout, and Bulldog, an excellent, fantastically dry nitro Irish stout, are core beers in the Beachwood rotation, are nearly always on draft here.
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Bottle Logic
1072 N Armando St | Anaheim
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Beer, in general, has four ingredients: grain, hops, yeast, and water. But at Bottle Logic, it’s safe to say the stouts have a fifth: barrel. Founder and Brewmaster Wes Parker incorporates barrels so well into these beers that it doesn’t taste like an addition, it tastes like a core ingredient. Few breweries are quite as committed to barrel-aging beers as these specialists in Orange County, whose limited-release runs of beer sell out in minutes on their online sales. They adjunct the heck out of their beers, with great success. Vanilla is an ingredient they particularly excel with; their recent Fundamental Coordinates series highlighted three origins of vanilla beans (Congo, Uganda, and Vanuatu), and each was pretty close to perfect.
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Monkish Brewing
20311 S Western Ave | Torrance
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It’s hard to imagine a style that can compete with New England IPAs for the best beer at Monkish, but these South Bay brewers make it a really tough call with their imperial stouts. Monkish began dipping their toes into the stout game in 2016 and 2017, but two releases in the winter of 2019 really staked their claim as one of the greats in the region. First came Hiddenness, an imperial stout aged for 18 months in rye barrels with vanilla beans, and then Little Twin Stars, a stunner of a pastry stout brewed for Other Half’s Pastry Town event that announced their arrival as one of the great new stout breweries. Since then, their yearly anniversary stout variations have become a big hit, and we’re excited to see what’s next in the barrel for Monkish.
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Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
3205 Washington Blvd | Venice
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Is there anything Firestone Walker doesn’t excel at? From lagers, to IPAs, to stouts, this Paso Robles- (and Venice-) based brewery just straight-up knows how to brew great beer. Even within a particular style, especially one as wide-ranging as stouts, Brewmaster Matt Brynildson and his team make their beers stand out. From heavy and sweet barrel-aged stouts – like Parabola, their yearly blend of beers that have spent 12 months in bourbon, rye, and wheated whiskey barrels – to the rich, roasty, and creamy nitro milk stout – 2021 GABF medaler Nitro Merlin – to the sweet complexity of an oatmeal stout – the ridiculously named Velvet Merkin – this team is putting out stouts with incredible consistency and flair.
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Smog City Brewing
1901 Del Amo Boulevard #B | Torrance
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Despite undergoing a huge expansion over the past four years – opening three new taprooms across Los Angeles County – Smog City has not lost a step in their stout department. Three beers in particular here are why Smog City is among the best in the region. First, The Nothing; this seasonal stout is brewed every winter. It is incredibly well-balanced considering both its comparatively low nine-percent ABV, and the amount of chocolate that comes through from the raw cacao nibs this beer is aged on. Next up is Infinite Wishes, a beautifully strong 13.5 percent ABV bourbon barrel stout, which serves as the bases for all kinds of excellent adjuncted versions like Coconut and Vanilla, and Raspberry Truffle. Finally, check out the mead-adjacent Buzzworthy, an exceedingly uncommon honey stout, brewed over honey and aged in bourbon barrels, made in collaboration with the fantastic New Hampshire-based Moonlight Meadery.
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Casa Agria Specialty Ales
701 N Del Norte Blvd # 360 | Oxnard
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Casa Agria has transformed over the years in some beautiful ways – after starting as a specialty mixed fermentation and barrel-aged wild ale brewery in 2015, these Oxnard natives have added one of the best New England IPA programs in the region. And, because of that institutional knowledge of barrels, it should come as no surprise that they also brew top-of-the-line stouts. They’ve been extremely intentional releasing these beers, only putting out a handful each year, but every drop they make is worth a taste. Also, though you might be drawn in by some of the buzzier-sounding pastry stouts, make sure to save room for their older-school rye- and oat-brewed milk stout Nights and Sounds, which clocks in at beautifully easy-drinking six-percent.
Photo: @juan611
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Bravery Brewing
42705 8th St W | Lancaster
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Sitting at the far north corner of LA County in Lancaster, Bravery Brewing has a stout program that flies under the radar. But a visit to their taproom will show you how committed they are to the style. The majority of the beer that owner and head brewer Brian Avery and his team produces will find its way into barrels, and at any given time you’ll find several barrel-aged stout options on tap. They’re also five years into hosting the Bravura Collective, their members-only beer club that showcases their array of barrel-aged stouts spanning spirits such as scotch, rye, bourbon, tequila, and rum. The unique part of Bravery’s barrel-aged stouts actually comes from the extreme Antelope Valley climate, which causes the wood to expand and contract, imparting intense spirit and wood character in the finished beers. The highlight of the program is the multi-award-winning The Shroud, a 13.6% Russian Imperial Stout that they release in adjunct- and barrel-free, bourbon barrel, vanilla bean, and hazelnut chocolate variants.
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Honorable Mentions
These are some of the next-best stout breweries, which have a more limited stout program but have shown previous excellence with the style.
Think of these as breweries you might expect to see in next year’s Best Stout Breweries guide.
Radiant Beer Co.
Anaheim, CA
It’s safe to say that Radiant co-founder and Bruery alumn, Andrew Bell knows his way around high gravity barrel-aged dark ales. In fact, he had fresh imperial stout racked into spirits barrels before the doors to their taproom even opened in January 2021. The small amount that’s been released up to this point has been fantastic, all but locking them into a spot on this list in 2023.
Everywhere Beer Co.
Orange, CA
Founded by another group of Bruery alumns, Everywhere Beer Co. opened its doors just five months ago but has been making “best new brewery” lists left and right this year. The stouts that have been released so far have been impressive, making them a front-runner for this list with another year under their belt.
Arrow Lodge Brewing
Covina, CA
While you might know Arrow Lodge more for their IPAs, their pastry stout program has shined over the years, highlighted by Puff Pastry, a 13% imperial stout with cocoa nibs, vanilla and marshmallow. With a new taproom opening up in early 2023, our fingers are crossed we’ll see more of these delicious decadent delights released soon.
Ogopogo Brewing
San Gabriel, CA
Ogopogo is one of those breweries that executes at a high level across almost every style they attempt. Stouts are no exception. From Shōjō, their 6% golden coffee milk stout to Fondness, their 11.8% bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with pralines and Ugandan vanilla beans, and everything in between, stouts have been a somewhat rare but welcome highlight to the Ogopogo portfolio.
Topa Topa Brewing
Ventura, CA
Topa Topa is known for excelling across many different styles — their stout program is not typically one of them. But have you met Tux? Their 5.5% nitro milk stout is a mainstay across their Ventura County taprooms and accounts, boasting notes of cake batter, macadamia nut, and chocolate. More rare are the special adjunct variants of the beer, including a mocha version with Ragamuffin coffee, a Mexican hot chocolate version with ancho chile, cinnamon, vanilla, cayenne, and cacao nibs, and a 9.8% imperial version aged in bourbon barrels and conditioned on vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, and coconut.
El Segundo Brewing Co.
El Segundo, CA
Yes, the West Coast IPA powerhouse in El Segundo also knocks it out of the park with their stout program. Well, one stout in particular that makes up the vast majority of that program, Standard Crude. Released annually in the winter, Standard Crude is a 10-12% (depending on the year) imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. While they’ve occasionally released limited adjunct variants over the years, the magic is in the untreated barrel-aged version. It’s full-bodied and robust with a touch of oaky vanilla sweetness that drinks exceptionally smooth for a beer of its caliber. Unfortunately, it looks like El Segundo is skipping the Standard Crude release this year but fingers crossed it returns in 2023.
1 thought on “The Best Stout Breweries in Los Angeles & Beyond”
I love stouts, so thanks for the list. I think Mumford deserves to be on your honorable mention list. Although they are best known for their NE IPAs, when they do stouts, they nail it. Their Stick Figures series was delicious.