Stouts and Porters
Thick Dark Perfection From The British Isles & Beyond
By Oiznop
Picture this. It’s a cold wintery night. You are craving a satisfying beverage that will take away the blustery chill of the season. Your cabinets and refrigerator are bare. What to do? Then you remember seeing that article on Beerpal.com or in All About Beer magazine about those dark, filling, hearty beers from Great Britain and Ireland known as stouts and porters. Viola! Me thinks we have the answer to solving this craving! So you head to the local brew house or beer distributor, and with confidence, ask the proprietor for a case of Guinness Extra Stout. Behold! One last case available. You then trudge home in your vehicle smiling through the snow knowing that blissful beer satisfaction awaits once you arrive at your abode. Utopia indeed, even with such adverse climate conditions.
At the time of this writing, the calendar says spring. However with the way the weather has been in Pittsburgh recently (and during the last two years), it seems like stout and porter drinking season is lasting all year long! But it doesn’t matter when it comes to beer consumption. Even if it were 96 degrees outside, this article’s author would still not hesitate to order one of the vast tasty selections from these two incredible brewing styles. Thanks and praise should go to our English-speaking cousins across the pond for creating such a delectable and enjoyable beer category that has seen its ups and downs over the years, but has become more popular than at any time during their history.
Stouts come in several different varieties. In Ireland, the beer connoisseur will find that the dry stout is indigenous to the region. They are rich and dark, and have bitter drying notes to their aftertaste. Because of this heartiness, many an Irish stout consumer will tell you that having a pint is like having a meal in a glass! Several dry stouts taste even better on draught. The reason for this is because the liquid is nitrogenated. When a keg of stout has nitrogen pumped into its contents, the beverage becomes smoother tasting, and creamier in its appearance and texture. This post-brewing procedure is done to other styles of draft ale as well.
Guinness is by and large the signature trendsetter of the style. This 200+ year old Irish quaffable from the St. James Gate Brewery of Dublin has become increasingly popular world-wide. Guinness’ popularity has catapulted it to commercialized status equal to that of Budweiser. Beamish and Murphy’s are two other excellent examples of the Irish dry stout. Unlike Guinness, they are not as commercialized, and have a bolder character that is not as dry.
Flavored stouts are unique because they incorporate the usual dark malt character of a dry stout, but add obscure flavors to the brew kettle. Tastes of dry fruit, coffee, vanilla, oak chips and chocolate are particularly popular ingredients used by many a stout creator both here and abroad. One such example is Young’s Double Chocolate Stout produced by the Young’s Brewery of London. A dark black coffee hue, a full-bodied mouthfeel, mild bitterness, and tastes of chocolate ever so present on the palate make Double Chocolate Stout a drinking experience that no lover of a fine brew should miss.
Britain however is not the only place where multi-flavored stouts come from. Red Hook Double Black Stout of Seattle, Washington, is one such example. Red Hook Brewery was founded by the owner of the Starbucks Coffee chain. It stands to reason that this brewery should make a black stout brewed with coffee from its parent company. Double Black is smooth, nutty, and has a deep, thick, rich espresso like quality to it as a result.
Imperial stout is an extra strong version of the style that was originally brewed by the British to withstand the rigors of export to Russia and the Baltic states. Imperial stouts are dense, opaque black, and unlike the dry or flavored stouts, are strong in alcohol content. Tasting notes of burnt cocoa, dried fruit, licorice, and slight sweetness are common.
The origin of the imperial stout is fascinating. The style comes from recipes that the brewers of Britain tweaked, tinkered and tailored to the tastes of the Imperial Russian court. The style was almost extinct until the Samuel Smith’s Brewery of Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England resurrected it in the early 1980s. U.S. craft brewers have now embraced imperial stouts as a wintertime specialty.
Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout has a flowery scent to it with hints of burnt malts and licorice emitting from the glass. Other aromas include that of prunes, coffee and molasses. Imperial has a tan foamy head that dissolves quickly. It has a very thick black body that is not uncommon to the style. The tastes of burnt coffee/espresso and dark roasted malts are most prevalent. A very smooth warming feel with noticeable alcohol notes and a dry mellow aftertaste are also included. Sam Smith’s Imperial is truly a world classic.
North Coast Brewing Company of Fort Bragg, California, produces its Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout as well. Named after the “mad monk” who had great influence over the Russian royal family in the years prior to the Bolshevik revolution, this stout is dark, buttery, toffeeish, bold, and has rum like quality to it. With Old Rasputin, North Coast proves that you don’t have to be British to create a tasty imperial stout.
Sweet stouts have distinctive and varying tastes that often bring out caramel or chocolate flavors. Often known as milk or cream stouts, these brews obtain their characteristics by virtue of the dark chocolate malts and lactic sugars used in the brewing process. This style of stout was considered to have nutritional value, as the beverage was once given to nursing mothers during pregnancy.
Mackeson Stout of southeastern England is once such example of the taste variations that sweet stouts possess. It contains lactose, and utilizes a milk churn in the creation process. The beer itself is light, smooth, and creamy, with noticeable hints of evaporated milk and coffee, as well as a licorice finish.
Oatmeal stout is a sweet stout variation that has a small portion of oats thrown into the brew kettle used in place of or in addition to dark roasted malts. This practice enhances the beer’s body and mouthfeel. Oatmeal stouts came to life in the early part of the 20th century and like milk stouts, were once thought of as being a nutritious part of an everyday diet. After falling off of the beer map in the 1960’s and 70’s, the style was revived by the brewers of the aforementioned Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout in 1980. Oatmeal stouts have become a very popular brewing style among the micro circuit in both the U.K. and the U.S.
Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout's head is a frothy mocha like conglomeration that is thick and sudsy, and floats around for a while before melting. The head caps off a nice thick dark brown to ruby black colored body. A candyish winey roasted dark malt aroma emits from the glass with some notes of sherry. The stout itself has a smooth oily texture on the tongue with flavors of espresso, and nougat bursting on the taste buds, with just a hint of oatmeal being detected. Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout has a nice burnt nutty aftertaste with a small tinge of dryness. It truly is breakfast in a bottle.
Porters, as opposed to stouts, can have a reddish brown hue to them, as well as the traditional black color. Porters can vary in the flavor department by having smoky, fully roasted, and subtle dark qualities. Like its stout siblings, porters are a centuries old brewing style and there are many differences of opinion as to what constitutes a “true” porter. Strong dark versions and lighter more delicate versions of the style are considered to be equally valid interpretations. In the United States, the brewing style is enjoying a new-found popularity among the craft suds makers. In the United Kingdom, porters have become less significant today even though porters were consumed in 18th century England with enthusiasm.
One of the more popular examples of the style is Fuller’s London Porter from the British capitol. The head is very thick, foamy, mocha latteish, and takes forever to settle in the glass. A very thick dark and rich black hue is just plain unbelievable. Aromas of burnt dark roasted malts waft from its confines. Dominant coffee tastes burst on the tongue and raise the eyebrows. Low hop character is present, but a smooth, oily complexity makes up for that. The aftertaste is reminiscent of Godiva Chocolates.
California’s Anchor Brewing incorporates a fine porter into their collection of trendy San Francisco treats. This porter has a very fresh smelling fruity, burnt raisin like aroma, and a thick dark black to brown coffeeish color. The tan head is sturdy but not too thick and evaporates quickly. Anchor has a burnt nutty cappuccino taste with light sweetness, and a very mellow hop quality that is almost non-existent.
As with stouts, adding unique flavors to a porter is not uncommon. Samuel Adams of Boston Brewing fame adds honey to its dark brown porter. This award-winning brew pours with an off-white head, and has aromas and tastes of spicy hops, full carbonation and, of course, a honey sweetness. Pete’s Brewing of Palo Alto, California makes a brown porter that contains maple syrup, an ingredient used in early American brewing. And Utenos Porteris is a robust Baltic porter from Lithuania that has a garnet hue, and unlike most porters, it is bottom fermented. It contains bitter-sweet toffee flavors, fruity malts and a light caramel nose.
Speaking of Baltic porters, there are several that are ready to satisfy just as much as the British porters they are descendants of. Porters from the Baltic states of the former Soviet Union, Poland, Sweden, and Russia range in color from mahogany red to pitch black, and pack a substantial wallop of flavor and alcohol content.
Aldaris Porteris of Riga, Latvia has a solid thick milky head that is firm and leaves nice lace behind. The dark amber to brown color suggests a stout like quality. Hints of coffee are very noticeable in the aroma. On the tongue, Aldaris is smooth and slightly bitter with a coffee and sherry like aftertaste coming out. Some burnt dark roasty chocolate malt notes are definitely a part of this lovely porter.
Baltika Porter from St. Petersburg, Russia is thick and dark brown to black in color. There are hints of burnt roasted malts, caramel and coffee in the nose. An almost port wine or sherry like quality, that has a mild burnt roasted malt character with little detected on the hop end is most noticeable. A toffeeish chewy flavor with a hint of licorice, and a cereal grain sweetness are also present, as well as a mildly dry aftertaste that has a small bite and some tiny whiskey notes.
Okocim Porter is a very strong porter from the home of the late Pope John Paul II. This Krakow, Poland brew is very complex with abundant licorice, toffee, and chocolate flavors overriding a rich background of dark malt. Okocim is also known for being poured into a glass mug that has a pewter imperial helmet lid reminiscent of a German beer stein. Most distinctive, indeed.
Stouts and porters certainly are the quintessential beers for lovers of the dark, sweet, and chewy in a pint glass or snifter. Ranging in alcohol content, ingredients, shades, textures, flavors and other complexities, these liquid treats are sure to be filling, and to satisfy that thirst for hearty malt beverages no matter what time of year, and no matter what part of the world they are created in. What variety! Now if only the weather in Pittsburgh would just warm up!
