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Porter is a dark beer that originated in London based on hopped brown malt ale. The first mention of porter dates back to the XNUMXth century and is due to the popularity of this type among the working class – street and port loaders (English porter – “loader”) due to the high calorie content of the drink. Sometimes the name “stout (stout)” is found – this is not so much a synonym for porter as its subspecies. The most famous stout is Guinness.
A distinctive feature of the porter’s taste is a pronounced malt profile with unobtrusive roasted notes, tones of chocolate, biscuit, and toast. Nuances of caramel are acceptable. Toffee, nuts, hops give an earthy aftertaste, floral nuances. It can be more or less hoppy depending on the variety and manufacturer. Bitterness ranges from 18 to 50 IBUs.
Porter’s story
Many studies of the history of porter are based on the book of John Felsam, published in 1802, but this is an extremely unreliable source: modern evidence does not support the lion’s share of the author’s calculations. Felsam relied on a public letter from the brewer Obadiah Poundage, however, being not familiar with the peculiarities of the production of intoxicating drinks, he seriously distorted many of the information. In particular, he claimed that porter was invented on the basis of the “three threads” beer style, but this is not at all the case.
In fact, porter beer was first mentioned in 1721, and appeared even earlier. It was the first style of beer to be aged in the brewery – before producers released their products to the market immediately after production, the beer could already be aged in the pub or in the warehouse. The first breweries specializing in the new style were Whitbread, Truman, Parsons, Thrale.
The first London Porters were stronger than modern ones – up to 6.6%. Initially they were made exclusively with brown malt, but after 1817 many brewers switched to other proportions: 95% pale malt and 5% black, although this did not become a strict recipe requirement.
Until about the beginning of the 6th century, London porter was aged in huge vats for 18-2 months. Then the producers discovered: if you mix a heavily aged porter (from one and a half years of aging or more) with a fresh one, then the resulting drink matches the taste and characteristics of the aged one. This greatly reduced production costs, the usual ratio was 1 parts young beer to XNUMX part old beer.
By the end of the 1978th century, porter had become weaker and less hoppy. During the First World War, due to a shortage of grain in England, restrictions on the strength of beer were introduced, but these innovations did not affect Ireland and they continued to brew porter according to pre-war recipes. The revival of the style occurred in XNUMX thanks to the craft brewery Penrhos, then other producers joined the trend: Timothy Taylor, Fuller’s, Wickwar Brewery, etc. Today, porter can be anything: pumpkin, honey, vanilla, plum, chocolate – whatever. Brewers still age the intoxicating drink before sale, using bourbon barrels for this.
In the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine and the USA, Baltic porter is brewed – ale with a strength of up to 10%, and sometimes even higher.
Porter types
The official classification suggests several types of porter:
- Brown porter (“brown porter”). Existed until 2015, then was abolished.
- Robust porter (“strong porter”). Existed until 2015, then split into English Porter (ABV 4.0-5.4%, mild, with a pronounced malty character) and American Porter (ABV 4.8-6.5%, bitter, dry).
- “Pre-Dry Law”. Similar to American, but softer, made using unmalted raw materials. Fortress 4.5-6.0%.
- Baltic. Strong, with fruity undertones, strength – 6.5-9.5%.
Production features
Making porter is always an experiment to some extent, since there are no hard and fast recipes, and the manufacturer can always approach the task creatively. Traditionally, pale malt is used as a base, to which caramel, brown, chocolate and black varieties are added. Roasted malt is rarely used, as it adds unwanted “roasted” notes to the bouquet. The hops and yeast are English, but for the American style they are substituted with local ingredients.
Brown malt is the original historical type. It was originally prepared from green malt – the raw material was dried at temperatures up to 200 ° C, so caramelized and smoked malt was obtained. Today, the technology has changed: the required ingredient is dried at 130°C, it is still brown and gives the beer a caramel flavor, but is no longer smoked.
How to drink porter beer
Porter is served chilled to 8-12 °C. This beer goes well with meat dishes like steak, mature cheeses and even desserts. Porter is drunk from beer glasses or mugs, there are no strict rules.
Differences between a porter and a stout
It is difficult to distinguish the fundamental differences, since the stout is a subspecies of porter (once it was called porter stout, then the name was simply shortened). Most brewers agree that porters are made with 100% malted barley, while stouts require a portion of unmalted roasted barley. Stout was singled out in a separate category by Guinness, completely abandoning the production of porter.
