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A Dark Turn: The New World of Stouts | Imbibe Magazine

Joshua M. Bernstein 11/10/25 Joshua M. Bernstein 11/10/25

A Dark Turn: The New World of Stouts | Imbibe Magazine

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© 2025 JOSHUA M. BERNSTEIN  |  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

@joshmbernstein

As a writer, finding negative narratives in craft beer is a breeze. Sales are declining. Closures are climbing. Let’s blame all those IPAs! Or Gen Z! Or THC!

Instead of focusing on deflating news, though, @vinepair asked me to do another editi

Before November disappears, a few highlights from the last few weeks: Violet turned 12 and we celebrated with a dozen donuts! I rode in the local Cranksgiving food drive! And bought smoked turkeys for our 17-person Thanksgiving from a BBQ truck in a

During craft beer’s 2010s heyday, breweries created objects of dark desire by redoubling stouts’ ABVs, adding cocoa nibs and coconut to evoke liquefied candy bars, and aging the roasty beers in bourbon barrels. Creative extravagances led

Post-Halloween post for posterity and proof of life to show that, yet again, I dressed up like a hot dog for, like, the seventh year in a row. Best per-wear purchase o’ my life. Also: I stood on a street corner with strangers turned friends and

Halloween hellscape roundup from morning walks around the neighborhood at, oh, 730am. Halloween: the very best season. It’s nearly time to dust off the hot dog costume. #halloween

It’s amazing what you can fit into two days in New York City when you put your mind to it. And don’t sleep. Scenes from a fast 48 hours in NYC for @covertcocktailclub’a wedding, including human pony rides, plenty of dumplings, visit

Now that we’re livin’ in Columbus, we’re trying to take advantage of being within a three-hour drive of a ton of cities we rarely got the chance to explore. Which meant 36 hours in Pittsburgh last weekend with old friends.

Outdoor

Over the last year or so, I've been watching the emergence of the "mid-strength" category of beers that deliver big flavor while minimizing alcohol. The beers, which include pilsners, radlers and IPAs alike, typically weigh in around 2 to 3

End o’ summer photo dump incoming! Scenes from the last few weeks o’ Columbus living, including an OSU football game, foraging for paw paws, Teen Beat and wrestling magazine dumpster scores, the world’s greatest restaurant sign, str

Last September, Hurricane Helene marked the second calamity to befall Asheville, North Carolina's brewing and hospitality industry in the last five years. The pandemic forced breweries into survival mode, pivoting to stay in business while staying at