Karl Strauss Brewing Company has released its seasonal Golden Stout for the seventh year in a row, and the 2026 edition comes with fresh hardware. The beer won a Bronze Medal in the Coffee Beer category at the 2026 World Beer Cup, the competition often called the Olympics of beer, after taking Silver in the same category in 2024.

Golden Stout is a 7.5% ABV seasonal that plays a trick on the eye. It skips the roasted malts that make most stouts dark, so it pours golden while keeping the character of a stout. The 2026 edition is brewed with coffee from San Diego-based Better Buzz Coffee Roasters, plus Ghanaian cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, and Columbus hops. The brewery describes the result as “a golden pour with silky stout character. Rich coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and soft vanilla, wrapped in a full, smooth body and finishing just sweet enough.”

The beer is available now on draft at Karl Strauss’ nine Southern California brewpubs, and in four-packs of 16 oz cans at the brewpubs and in retail outlets throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada. It is a Ridiculously Limited Release, so the run will not last long.

A Seasonal With a Track Record

Seven straight years is a long run for a limited seasonal, and the medal record explains why it keeps coming back. A World Beer Cup medal in a category as competitive as Coffee Beer is a strong signal, and winning medals in two of the last three years puts Golden Stout in rare company among San Diego seasonals. The Better Buzz partnership keeps the coffee local, which fits a brewery that has been part of the San Diego scene since 1989.

The release also carries a charitable note. Karl Strauss will donate 1% of the beer’s California retail sales to the Restaurants Care program, which supports food and beverage workers in California who are in crisis.

The Brewery Behind It

Karl Strauss was voted 2026 Best Micro Brew Pub in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s “San Diego’s Best, U-T Readers Poll.” Its San Diego brewpubs are in 4S Ranch, Carlsbad, Downtown, and Sorrento Mesa, with additional locations in Anaheim, Corona, Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, and Temecula.

For San Diego beer fans, the timing is good. San Diego Beer Week runs through Sunday, November 15, and a limited, medal-winning coffee stout is exactly the kind of beer the week is built for. If you want to try it, the brewpubs are the surest bet, since the canned run is limited and the retail allocation will go fast.