Stout & Porter
Stout and porter beers are related. In fact, the stout is a beer style that evolved from the porter, and is actually also an abbreviation of 'stout porter', or, in other words, a strong porter.
Let's start with the porter: this is originally a dark beer, which was mainly drunk by the porters in the English ports (as tradition states). The exact history is rather unclear. It is certain that the 'porter' as beer was already being discussed early in the 18th century. You can imagine that the porters from this time are difficult to compare with modern porters.
Porters are dark beers, but certainly not opaque. If you look through it (with the help of a light, for example) you can actually see that a porter is not black, but a deep dark red or brown. The taste is characterized by dark notes, such as coffee and chocolate, but also flavors of grain, caramel, bread, and sometimes even somewhat fruity (think red and blue berries). The beer can also be a bit hoppy, which is historically appropriate, but does not always happen. The alcohol percentage is (usually) between 4.5 and 6.5%.
The Stout can be seen as the 'big brother' of the porter. Thick, full and rich, with a good alcohol percentage.
Stouts are really dark beers. You can try to see through your glass, but you won't succeed. Black, black, jet black in color, with big flavors. Coffee, chocolate, licorice/salmiac, roasted, roasted, sweet, dry, intense, but also layered and subtle. You can also have fruity notes in stouts, such as dark red fruit, berries, figs, etc., but that is certainly not always the case. Expect an alcohol content of between 8 and 12%, but outliers (certainly upwards) are not rare. Above 10% alcohol you call it a Russian Imperial Stout. The term 'Russian Imperial' is said to refer to the popularity of (very heavy) stouts at the Russian imperial court, although there is no tangible evidence of this. It is known that the Imperial Stout was extremely popular with the Tsars and that it was seen as a noble drink.
Stouts are also often used to mature in wooden barrels that previously held another spirit such as whiskey, bourbon or something else. We are talking about the 'barrel aged' stout.
View all the stouts and porters we have in our range here.
