Porter vs Stout

this

http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/so-what-is-the-difference-between-porter-and-stout/

 

we didn't make it one week and we pop 2015's "porter vs. stout" cherry ...

oh well ... there's always 2016

 

I had O'Hara's while I was in Ireland and did like it. But for the ones that were widely available there I would say I like the Beamish best, then Murphys, then Guinness. In Ireland there seems to be some very regional preferences. but, that said, I liked them all (but especially the Beamish).

 

Natalle and Doughnut are porters by the website Evil Twin. Correction.....even though Natalle is supposed to be the same as Biscotti with a cherry on top, which is weird.

 

I wasn't there long, but I agree completely. Beamish wasn't the best beer I've ever drank, but on tap it hit the spot.

 

I can't overstress how good condition - maximum freshness and clean serving equipment - makes a huge difference to appreciation. Guinness and the other Irish stouts taste much more "real" when sampled in this form. Obviously, craft brewers make great examples that historically are more valid in the sense often of being all-malt and higher gravity, but sometimes you don't want that and a fresh 4.5% Guinness or Murphy hits the spot. But rarely in North America does it taste as it should, IMO, added to which the very cold serving temperature takes away from the taste too. If you let draft Guinness get much warmer it is surprising how bitter it is.

One can easily imagine that when Guinness was unpasteurized and did not use adjunct it was very craft-like, in fact certainly a craft item in functional terms.

 

That is a great read.

I would also like to point out that this porter vs stout issue is an example of when our desire to organize beers into categories can make things more confusing and is counter-productive. When you accept that porters and stouts are equal then the fuzzy lines, exceptions, and confusion melts away.

I think many peoples' confusion about stouts and porters comes from taking characteristics of specific stout/porter sub-categories and incorrectly applying them to stouts and porters globally. If you think of stouts/porters like a tree whose trunk is "porter/stout" [because they are equivalent terms] and the branches are sub-categories (e.g. dry Irish stouts, Baltic porters, oatmeal stouts, Russian imperial stouts, milk stouts, Cascadian dark ales, etc.), then the sub-categories have specific characteristics, but those characteristics can't be applied to the entire porter/stout tree.

 

Great description IMO. I find porters to have more bitterness that comes through that I think is covered up in a stout.

 

Stouts are thick and high ABV like the most well known and oldest commercially brewed stout in world, Guinness stout, right?

And if you think porters are more bitter and/or lower ABV/sessionable, then all baltic porters turn those rules on their head.

Once again, any rule someone tries establish just can't hold up to reality.

 

What, no "Short Round" Indiana Jones Temple of Doom reference?

 

If you'd like to enjoy a porter without sorting through a style identity crisis, pick up a few Baltic Porters. Namely, Baltika. They are certainly different from a, shall I say. "normal" porter. Personally, I find more of a dark fruit thing happening in them. Darn tasty I might add.

 

At this point, I don't think anyone knows for sure

 

Obviously there are exceptions. I was generalizing. From the couple hundred stouts and porters I've had over the past few years, that's generally held up.

There are exceptions to just about every rule ever.

 

It makes more sense when you throw out the rule.

 

I'll go ahead and quote myself from a post ago.

 

OK, then so will I...

 

To each their own.

I'll continue to "pretend" I notice differences between the styles.

 

When I first got into beer, I asked this question to many brewers and beertenders, the general consensus I arrived at was:
Porter - Usually less in abv, less viscous, and when you hold it up and examine it, you can see a hint of clarity and some color, usually reddish.
Stout - Higher Abv, heavy mouthfeel, and when you hold it up and examine it, black and no clarity.

But, now I understand their used interchangeably. Imperial Porters could easily be a stout and some "session" stouts could be considered porters.