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Styles · Sweet Stout

Beer style · BJCP 2021 16A

Sweet Stout

Dark British Beer

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.044–1.060
Final gravity
1.012–1.024
Bitterness
20–40 IBU
Color
30–40 SRM (59–79 EBC)
Alcohol
4.0–6.0 % ABV

What it is

A full-bodied dark ale sweetened by unfermentable lactose, so the roast reads as coffee-with-cream rather than bitter char. Low apparent attenuation and modest bitterness make it the dessert end of the stout family.

Flavor

What a Sweet Stout should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Hops stay in the background: none of their character belongs.

Malt

Chocolate, coffee/roast and sweet/honey, with room for grainy, bready/biscuit or caramel.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for fruity esters.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Sweet Stout has classically been brewed with.

Nothing else on character: the hops here are there for bitterness and balance, and any variety whose aroma you would notice is out of place.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 73 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.