What Is a Stout?

A stout is a dark, almost black beer that tastes of coffee and cocoa. This post explains where the style and its flavours come from, and why those flavours do not depend on alcohol.

Where the stout style comes from

Stout developed from porter, a dark beer that appeared in London in the early 1700s. The name porter is usually traced to the London porters who carried goods through the streets and loaded ships on the Thames. Brewers sold their stronger porters as "stout porter", and the name was later shortened to stout. Irish brewers took up both beers in the late 1700s and the 1800s, and Ireland is still closely linked with stout.

Where the coffee and cocoa flavours come from

A stout gets its colour and flavour from roasted grain. Roasted barley is barley roasted almost black without being malted first, and it tastes like strong black coffee. Chocolate malt is malted barley roasted to the colour of dark chocolate, and it adds cocoa flavours without containing any chocolate. Roasting grain at a high heat creates flavours similar to those of roasted coffee and cocoa beans. In a traditional stout, the coffee and cocoa flavours come from these grains, not from coffee or chocolate.

Why the roast does not depend on alcohol

Body is how full a beer feels in the mouth, and many stouts have a full, smooth body. In a regular stout, the alcohol adds a little to that body and gives a warming feeling. The roast does not depend on alcohol. It is created when the grain is roasted, before brewing begins, and the yeast makes the alcohol later, during fermentation. This is why a stout keeps its roast when the alcohol stays under 0.5% ABV.

How SOMA makes Dark Arts

SOMA Dark Arts is our stout. It is brewed with roasted barley and chocolate malt and fermented with a maltose-negative yeast. This yeast cannot eat maltose, the main sugar in wort (the sweet liquid that becomes beer), so the alcohol stays under 0.5% ABV. Dark Arts pours near-black with a tan head, and it has a smooth texture and a coffee and cocoa finish. A 500ml can has an indicative 99 calories, and Dark Arts contains no caffeine.

How Dark Arts Espresso is different

Dark Arts Espresso is the same stout brewed with cold-brew coffee, so its coffee flavour comes from real coffee as well as from the roasted grain. The coffee also brings caffeine, and Dark Arts Espresso is the only SOMA that contains it. The amount per can will be printed on its label. Our post on caffeinated non-alcoholic beer explains where the caffeine comes from and who should choose the caffeine-free can.

Dark Arts and Dark Arts Espresso are two of SOMA's five beers, and all five are under 0.5% ABV. SOMA is taking pre-orders now. Production starts after December 2026, and nothing ships before then.