Baltic Porter - Ale or Lager?

It's made with lager yeast, fermented cool and lagered so therefore it's a lager

 

If a beer goes though primary fermentation at a low temperature, and then secondary fermentation at an even lower temperature for an extended period of time, it's a lager.

The difference is due more to process, not whether the yeast is bottom or top fermenting

 

As I understand it most Baltic Porters are brewed using lager yeast and I personally consider these beers to be lagers.

There are some Baltic Porters that are brewed using ale yeast, Sinebrychoff Porter is one example. I personally view Sinebrychoff Porter as being an ale.

Lager yeasts behave differently from ale yeasts so there will accordingly be differences.

Cheers!

 

According to @marquis, a porter is a beer, not an ale, anyway, so the question is moot.

 

My guess is that they could be either depending on how the brewer brews it.

 

Some brewers do use "ale" yeasts but they are still fermented at a cooler temperature and then lagered so it's clearly a lager.

 

Porters are not ales. Just no.

 

He'd be right.

 

"History: Traditional beer from countries bordering the Baltic Sea. Derived from English porters but influenced by Russian Imperial Stouts. Ingredients: Generally lager yeast (cold fermented if using ale yeast). Debittered chocolate or black malt."

 

Michael Jackson claimed to have created the term:

Jackson's 1998 Beer (aka Ultimate Beer in the US) had a section entitled "Winter Warmers: Baltic Porters and Stouts", the text of which makes obvious he considers them basically the same "style". His last book, Beer- Eyewitness Companion, which he edited, says:

 

There has been an unfortunate assumption that because ales are top fermented this means that all top fermented beers are ales.All dogs are animals does not mean that all animals are dogs.
Stouts and Kolsch are examples of top fermented beers which are not ales.Stouts because they are the product of a separate heritage and Kolsch because it is lagered making it a lager.

 

Certainly that is the German view and as such deserves to be respected.After all,lager means "store"
The names ale,beer and lager were in use well before people knew about yeast.

 

I like to think of yeast like people. Some prefer hot and some prefer cold. We can all survive each temperature but we have a preference. To me a beer made with "lager"yeast at ale ferm temps is still an ale. Lagerering is a process and not a type of yeast to me.

 

Carnegie Porter and Sinebrychoff Porter are two of my favorite dark beers through time. I haven't had any recent versions of Carnegie, but these Nordic porters are rich and "extracted", like perfectly "reduced" beverages. In fact, on occasion, years ago, the Carnegie Porter seemed to have intoxicating qualities separate from alcohol alone. Next on my list of favorite porters is Smuttynose Robust Porter. This is a trustworthy brew that I love, very affordable, and beautiful to the eye. I have never cared whether any one of them was a lager or an ale. Just damned good beer matters!

 

Depends on the yeast strain used in the brewing process. But traditionally, they’re lagers.

 

We should step back from the strict idea that all beers are either ales or lagers... and the idea that there is "lager yeast" and "ale yeast."

 

Wait... If we did that the world would become a more complicated place and harder to understand....