Porter

Porter is a general term used for a style of strongly-flavored, brown-colored ale that gained popularity in the south of England in the 18th century.

History of Porter

Porter was a London style that turned the brewing industry upside down early in the 18th century. It was a dark brown beer – 19th-century versions became jet black – that was originally a blend of brown ale, pale ale and ‘stale’ or well-matured ale. It acquired the name Porter as a result of its popularity among London’s street-market workers. At the time, a generic term for the strongest or stoutest beer in a brewery was stout.

The strongest versions of Porter were known as Stout Porter, reduced over the years to simply Stout. Such vast quantities of Porter and Stout flooded into Ireland from London and Bristol that a Dublin brewer named Arthur Guinness decided to fashion his own interpretation of the style. The beers were strong – 6% for Porter, 7% or 8% for Stout. Guinness in Dublin blended some unmalted roasted barley and in so doing produced a style known as Dry Irish Stout. Restrictions on making roasted malts in Britain during World War One led to the demise of Porter and Stout and left the market to the Irish. In recent years, smaller craft brewers in Britain have rekindled an interest in the style, though in keeping with modern drinking habits, strengths have been reduced. Look for profound dark and roasted malt character with raisin and sultana fruit, espresso or cappuccino coffee, liquorice and molasses, all underscored by hefty hop bitterness. Porters are complex in flavour, range from 4% to 6.5% and are typically black or dark brown; the darkness comes from the use of dark malts unlike stouts which use roasted malted barley. Stouts can be dry or sweet and range from 4% to 8% ABV.

Types of Porter

The term "Porter" can be used to describe almost any kind of brown beer. Some of the most common substyles are:

Brown Porter

Brown Porter is the standard English porter; English beers simply labeled Porter are usually in this style. (American examples are likely to be in the Robust Porter style). A Brown Porter is a brown colored, slightly sweet English ale lacking the strong roasted flavor of a Stout.

Robust Porter

A darker, stronger, more intensely malty version of a brown porter, Robust Porter is probably the most common Porter brewed by American craft brewers. Robust porters sometimes include more roasted flavors than Brown Porter, but not as much as would be found in a Stout.

Smoked Porter

A Smoked Porter usually resembles a robust porter with a distinct smoky flavor. The original English Brown Porters were made with the malt of their day, which probably retained some smoky character, and so in some sense this might be considered a "throwback" beer. However, the first modern Smoked Porter was brewed by the Alaskan Brewing Company, using the same alder wood for smoking as was used by the local Juneau fish smokers. Since then, other American and some international brewers have presented their own interpretations using other types of smoked malt.

Baltic Porter

A combination of English and Eastern European brewing traditions, a Baltic Porter is actually a dark, malty lager, usually stronger than Robust Porter (up to 10% abv) and often with a distinct winy flavor and alcoholic bite. This beer is to porters what Russian Imperial Stout is to Stout.

Stout Porter

{{ #if: | Main article: [[Stout|]] | Main article: Stout }}

Porter was the base from which Stout developed; the original name for Dry Stout was Stout Porter. In some cases the line between Stout and Porter is somewhat arbitrary. The primary difference is that stouts tend to feature more of a roasted barley character. For more information on this related style, see the entry on Stout.

Brewing Porter

Competition Styles

Both the BJCP and the GABF style guidelines recognize Brown, Robust, and Baltic Porter styles.

BJCP Style Guidelines

Brown Porter

Robust Porter

Baltic Porter

GABF Style Listings

Baltic Porter

Brown Porter

Robust Porter