Stouts and porters, often called dark beers, are packed with roasted flavours and richness that make them an indulgent treat.
While stouts are a very dark, often creamy ale associated with acidic coffee and chocolate flavours, porters tend to lean toward being more mellow, featuring slightly more savoury malt.
Our list for the best Kiwi stouts and porters of 2023 is small but mighty, featuring just two that are the cream of the crop.
However you prefer your beers, the New World Beer & Cider Awards 2023 have something for you.
Browse our award-winning stouts and porters below, complete with food and beer pairings to take your at-home tasting experience to the next level.
8 Wired Baltic Smoke
Type of beer: Porter
Brewery: 8 Wired
Flavours: Smoky, coffee, maple syrup
Judges’ comments: 8 Wired Brewing, based in Warkworth with a barrel-room in nearby Matakana, are a perennial in the Top 30. They specialise in big, bold beers and this is one of the biggest and boldest. Made in the Baltic porter style, with the addition of beechwood smoke, this is a showcase for the art of balancing flavours. The aroma of smoke is initially subdued, with sweet black coffee taking centre stage. Sweet maple-syrup malt flavour is the first cab off the rank flavour-wise with the tangy smoke sliding in sideways, before building towards a gentle, just-bitter, warm finish aided by some alcohol heat. It’s a beer that takes you on a journey of your palate’s sensory capabilities.
Pairing Recommendation: A complex beer with robust smoke wants a juicy steak with mushroom sauce and truffle potatoes.
For more on this beer visit: 8wired.co.nz
Buy this beer: Visit online shopping
Burkes Brewing Co Unforgiven Porter
Type of beer: Porter
Brewery: Burkes
Flavours: Dark malt, chocolate, coffee
Judges’ comments: After two years in the Top 30 with their hugely popular #FakeNews Hazy IPA, Tekapo-based Burkes Brewing are back for a third, this time with a polar opposite beer: Unforgiven Porter. Helicopter engineer turned brewer Sebastian Burke is on a can’t-miss run with this beer and it’s no surprise to see it turn up in the Top 30 after it was named New Zealand’s Champion Beer at the 2021 New Zealand Beer Awards. Unforgiven is more than the sum of its parts, and it’s an awesome showcase for the beauty of dark malts, said the judges. Creamy chocolate on the nose is followed through in the palate, with just a hint of savoury. Think chocolate-coated coffee beans.
Pairing Recommendation: Roast coffee and chocolate flavours suit fried food such as grilled halloumi or lamb chops.
For more on this beer visit: untappd.com/BurkesBrewingCo
Buy this beer: Visit online shopping
Sprig + Fern Norty Porter
Type of beer: Porter
Brewery: Sprig + Fern
Flavours: cacao, chocolate
Judges’ comments: Sprig + Fern founder Tracy Banner celebrates 40 years in beer this year. The “mother of New Zealand brewing” worked for Mac’s and Speight’s before she started Sprig + Fern, and she knows more about beer than nearly anyone else in the industry. This light and supple porter is brewed using cacao nibs to create a beer that’s light and chocolatey. So, forget any notions you might have of dark beers being too heavy or charry-bitter; this is elegant, feather-light and smooth — and a wonderful chocolate delivery mechanism.
Pairing Recommendation: So light and chocolatey it wants tart berries to play against so try it with raspberry cheesecake.
For more on this beer visit: sprigandfern.co.nz
Buy this beer: Visit online shopping
Bootleg Late Night Monk Fight Quad
Type of beer: Stout
Brewery: Bootleg
Flavours: Raisins, berries, spice, sweet malt
Judges’ comments: Bootleg Brewing made their name with a grunty IPA, Apehanger, which is also in this year’s Top 30, but at heart they love putting an unexpected twist on a classic style, especially the Belgian numbers. The superbly-named Late Night Monk Fight (a nod to Belgium’s Trappist monks) is a Belgian-style quadrupel, which means big, bold, sweet and spicy. It’s a beer for savouring and sharing — and cellaring if you’re patient enough. Hold this one up to the light to appreciate the bright ruby colour before diving into a long-lasting flavour that’s all raisins and berries with alcohol warmth and a light spice balancing the sweeter malts. Despite the 8.6% ABV the body is surprisingly lean and agile, pairing well with a hearty plate.
Pairing Recommendation: Malty, fruity, slightly spicy this will play the role of red wine next to slow-cooked beef cheeks.
For more on this beer visit: bootlegbrewery.co.nz
Buy this beer: Visit online shopping
Thirsty for more top New Zealand beers?
If you’re after dark beers, lagers or more unique craft varieties, don’t forget to check out the articles linked below, or browse the Top 30 from the New World Beer & Cider Awards 2023 using our Beer Finder.
Not sure what you like? Our craft beer guide will walk you through what makes craft beer special and the different styles and flavours you can find in Aotearoa.
Related articles:
Best New Zealand craft beers for 2023
Best New Zealand IPAs and pale ales for 2023
Best New Zealand lagers and pilsners for 2023
Best New Zealand hazy ales for 2023
Best New Zealand wheat, saison and sours for 2023
Best New Zealand cider and alcoholic gingerbeers for 2023
About the author
Michael Donaldson is one of New Zealand’s most renowned beer writers and was named Beer Writer of the Year by the Brewers Guild of New Zealand for a third time in 2018. He has been the Chair of Judges for the New World Beer & Cider Awards since 2016.
His writing appears in North & South, The New Zealand Herald, Stuff and Drinksbiz. He is also the editor of The Pursuit of Hoppiness magazine published by the Society of Beer Advocates (SOBA). He is the author of New Zealand's definitive beer history Beer Nation - the Art and Heart of Kiwi Beer as well as The Big Book of Home Brew: a Kiwi Guide and The Hopfather, the biography of Emerson's founder Richard Emerson.