Porter vs. Stout

Short answer: Besides pages of historical arguments nothing. Different names same beer. Different offerings from different breweries will be slightly different, and some will taste exactly the same.
Now I await the hate and discontent other BA's will rain down on me haha.

 

Pretty much the same thing. Some people might say porters have less hoppy character but they're really the same thing.

Just look at the two descriptions for American Stout and American Porter on here:

Seriously.

 

Hahaha Nice!

 

To me, stouts are usually thicker, heavier, and a bit more robust

 

That's how I used to define it too.

But the more accurate answer, as has already been stated, is that it really just depends on what the brewery decides to call their beer.

 

As far as I can tell Stouts tend to be higher in alcohol content and IBU's than Porters for the most part. Otherwise they are pretty close.

 

I hardly see a difference, maybe the region they spawned from? I'm no expert, but that's my guess.

 

It seems a lot of people these days like to think stouts have to be thicker with higher ABV and porters just lighter stouts. Personally I think they are just the same thing but encompass a wide range of variation within the style. See the thread about Stone Coffee Milk Stout, many people are dissing it saying its to thin and not stout like. These people are plain fools or have just had their minds/tastebuds tainted by to many high ABV beers aged in barrels and containing lord knows what other ingredients.

*And in full disclosure, I used to consider porters to be somewhere between a stout and a brown ale.

 

Porter is the overall style and Stout originated (in this context) as simply a stronger version.But even in the early days the terms were interchangeable. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout was once West India Porter.In fact many brewers rebadged their Porters as Stouts in the post WW1 era when beer strengths were reduced.
Martyn Cornell has written about the subject;
http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/so-what-is-the-difference-between-porter-and-stout/

 

Insert standard "do a forum search since this has been discussed quite a bit previously" response

 

SN Stout and SN Porter are distinctly different. That said if you delve into the SN website the evolution of the stout was born from the "stout porter", or a porter with a higher ABV....

 

Apparently nothing. This topic has been discussed before but so what, don't let the beer dorks give you crap about it.

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/porter-versus-stout

 

I hate this response to a redundant topic. New BAs want to talk beer and interact with wiser, more knowledgeable BAs. That's one of the best things about this site. I say, if you're sick of the "What's your favorite IPA thread?", than just skip it...

 

Redundancy foul.

 

Today, there is probably little difference between the two (depending). But it never hurts to know the history and why they have different names. I have read similar stories to SN in the past. That at one time some one took a porter and made it a stronger porter. A stronger more Stout, porter. Thus the birth of the Stout.

I rarely drink porters and in around 10 years of drinking craft have had probably 3 porters. and one of those was about 2 weeks ago (SN) and before that, I couldn't begin to remember. The ones I've tried tasted very thin and uninteresting. Like a watered down stout. Reading this thread almost made me want to try more but then I thought...why? I'm already a stout fan/drinker.

 

Isn't ZD an IPA?? Wait whoops wrong thread

 

A Stout is a 'stout' Porter, hence the name. To, a stout has more roastiness and body, so I'll define the word 'stout' that way.

 

In modern times, IF there is a difference from lets say Sierra Nevada, its very slight hops and abv.

Then there is Founders porter at 6.9% abv and its fits more of a modern stout and almost a RIS. So you decide.

Brown beer it is. used to be aged, and so was NOT MILD, Mild meaning YOUNG BEER. lots of history. You basically have to look at porter thru 3 centuries of brewing. or you can define it in modern times.

Now days its been answered. Its whatever the brewer wants to call it. OR you could go to the judges (BJCP, etc) of whatever country you want to judge it in. most beer is mild today, its not aged.

You could use the old term and go with a stout porter = stout. but then you find a 100 examples of that not being true....

to me most porter "SEEM" to be a bit smoother and less bitter than most stouts. this is a modern thing of the last 20 years or so. maybe less.

 

Not getting into history or calling out every modern commercial example - and if I was going to homebrew a porter and stout that people would easily identify - I think porters tend to use a higher proportion of chocolate malt than stouts and stout use a higher proportion of roasted barley and/or black patent malt than porters.