Condition time for stouts

I was just wondering how long I should let a stout condition before drinking it? I've been thinking about ordering an otmeal stout kit from midwest to drink while smoking cigars. I've found that regular ales seem too weak when smoking cigars. Anyway, some people say that stout should be conditioned for a year before drinking it. Is there any truth in this?

--DamnTheMan

Maybe if you are talking about an Imperial Stout, or some other high gravity version of the stout species. High s.g. recipes often benifit from a long aging period, but for most standart beers much over a month is not necesary. And always keep in mind that the one feature that degrades the most w/ time is the hop aroma and flavor, but since stouts are rarely high on either of those, a bit of aging is probably fine (I am soon going to be drinking a batch of stout I bottled 2 months ago, and am really looking forward to it! )

I just ordered a sweet stout kit from northernbrewer.com and I'm looking forward to that. It will be the first stout that I have brewed, so I hope it turns out ok. I just thought that waiting a year to drink my beer would bee too much. I'll definately wait a month before diving into the stout though.

--DamnTheMan