Colorado's best barrel-aged stouts rated in blind tasting

It's always a good time for a good stout.

What to know: John recently joined a panel of brewers and beer experts for a blind-tasting of 32 barrel-aged stouts made in Colorado. (No adjunct ingredients allowed.)

What we found: The top three showed bold flavors and a dense body to balance the sweetness with the barrel characteristics.

• The winner: Westbound & Down's Barrel-Aged Western Justice.
• The other finalists: Cerebral's Here Be Monsters and Casey's Barrel-Aged Wrong Answers Only.
• More favorites included Verboten's Others in Darkness, Telluride's Fire from the Mountain, Station 26's Eternal Descent and Timnath's Little Tank.

Of note: Even if you'd rather not drink dark beer in the warm months, most of these will age gracefully.