Stout or Porter?

Just think of porters as a spectrum of beers, where the upper reaches are more "stout"; stronger tastes, darker, thicker, perhaps more alcohol, etc.

 

Ahhhh the good old stout and porter thread....that and the monthly ale and lager thread is only time I see marquis

 

Then you don't read the "session" threads?

Actually, I appreciate @marquis perspective, but then, it was English Bitter on cask in English pubs that introduced me to what good tasting beer could be!

 

Oh I do too, marquis is awesome. I just think it's funny, actually the main reason I look at these threads

 

I nearly died of exhaustion this exact time last week beating a dead horse, the horse preferred a nut black ale over stout and porter if I recall correctly........

 

It's unfortunate for me, I guess, that I came of age when a 'stout' was meant to be consumed in quantity. Nothing like that is being made any more, for the most part- and high gravity and added flavorings work decidedly against that kind of enjoyment. But there really is nothing better than sharing a table with a few friends, bullshitting the night away after pitcher upon pitcher of a nice stout. Unless it's a porter .

 

Chris, it is not just the 'history' of British beers but as @jesskidden made mention in his reply to you American brewers in the later 1800's - early 1900's would label some of their lagers as being Bohemian Pilsners. I have read were some BAs would claim this labeling (branding) of Bohemian Pilsner is inappropriate because in the Czech Republic only beers brewed in the town of Plzen are permitted to call their lagers as being Pilseners. Well the 'cat is put of the bag' in that well over 100 years ago many breweries, not located in Europe, would label their beers as being Bohemian Pilsners.

A very dynamic beer world we live (and lived) in.

Cheers!

 

Hey, it's the law! (Or "was", anyway ).

 

I can't tell the difference myself other than the fact that the porters I have enjoyed tend to be thinner. This is a great thread. I look forward to reading more.

 

I used to gravitate just towards my go-to style - stouts. Over the past year or so, I have explored porters as well and have found some really excellent examples from BA Baltic Porters to more traditional porters made by brewers such as Founders and Central Waters. Many of them are indistinguishable from their stout brethren, though porters do seem to be lower IBU and ABV, milder tasting, and smoother. I've also had a number of surprisingly excellent brown ales such as Lakefront My Turn Mike, Founders Sumatra Mountain, Surly Coffee Bender, Surly Cacao Bender.

 

I think you mean coffee ales.

 

Yeah. I had a waiter yesterday trying to tell me what they had on tap since their online and printed menus were completely outdated, but he had no idea either. I finally went and looked for myself, came back and ordered a Watertown Kampeska Cold Press. He said - "oh, one of those coffee beers". Apparently does not think coffee beers should be a thing.

 

Unfortunately, the attention-seeking ignoramuses who have no idea what they're talking about and ignore pages of exposition won't be reading your post either.

 

I have to agree to disagree with you on this. They use black, chocolate, and roasted barley. Right from the SN website.

INGREDIENTS

• YEAST Ale yeast
• BITTERING HOPS Bravo
• FINISHING HOPS Cascade, Yakima Golding
• MALTS Two-row Pale, Munich, Caramel, Carafa, Black, Chocolate & Roasted Barley

 

Here's the ingredients for the porter
Ingredients

• Yeast Ale yeast
• Bittering Hops Aurora
• Finishing Hops Yakima Golding
• Malts Two-row Pale, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Black & Carafa

• 
  They are not the same beer, but it's hard to make a case they aren't the same style IMO.

 

Thanks. That recipe has drifted, then. It didn't used to include that. Now I really need to pick up a sixer to check it out.

 

I agree with all of this. I just want to add that I think many peoples' confusion about stouts and porters arise from incorrectly applying characteristics of specific stout/porter sub-categories to stouts and porters generally. If you visualize beer classification like a tree*, the trunk is "beer" and one of the major limbs is "porter/stout" [because they are equivalent terms]. which then branches into sub-categories (e.g. dry Irish stouts, Baltic porters, oatmeal stouts, Russian imperial stouts, milk stouts, Cascadian dark ales, etc.). The sub-categories could have characteristics matching one or more of the items you listed (roast level, adjuncts, thicker, ABV, etc.) but those characteristics cannot be applied to the entire porter/stout limb.

* - A tree model of beer classification is overly simple because it cannot reflect changes over time, but let's go with it for the sake of this analogy.

 

I know its hard to make a case they aren't a different beer. I was just pointing they are going with the more common way of looking at porter / stout. One using roasted barley one not.