The Dark Side of the Pint Glass

As I was brewing a batch of India Red Ale this past Sunday in the freezing-ass cold, my good friend (a fellow brewer) posed a question to me; “Just what IS the difference between a stout and a porter?” (he was making a coffee porter so it was on the mind). I had to think about that one for a bit whilst attempting to keep myself warm (we had a pretty good cold front move in that morning). I realized that I did not know the answer, but I told him that I would find out for him and get back to him on it. So after a fairly routine brew session, it was time to pack up. I do say ‘fairly routine’ because something had to have happened to my ‘first-time-brewer’ friend to make his experience complete. Whether he had fallen asleep, was too busy looking for that last drop of Karma in his glass, or was day-dreaming of his first hand-crafted amber ale a giant boil-over ensued. No big deal; we just cut the fire back and a quick recovery was made. Anyway, I digress.

As with most of these questions, the answers can’t be given without a bit of history, so I’ll go into a quick run-down, but if you’d like to learn more, you’ll have to punch it up on the net.

Porters date back to 18^th century London, when the pubs there were blending dark older ales with pale younger ones to basically create a new “style” of ale. Breweries then began making their version of the pub favorite, and some started producing stronger, more full-bodied versions that then took on the name “Stout Porter”. Over time, the “porter” was dropped and a new beer style was now gracing the Earth.

Now that you have a BRIEF history on them you’ll need to think back to the last stout you had the honor of tasting, as well as the last porter; there are some subtle differences. With that in mind, you might be thinking that there are a TON of different types of stouts and a few types of porters. Stouts range from dry, sweet, oatmeal, export, and Russian Imperial (to name a few). Porters tend to fall in the Baltic, brown, and robust categories. So think about any example of these side by side (stout vs porter). One, if not the only real difference is the absence of roasted barley from a porter. Another, but is not as certain, is stouts tend to have very little if any hop profile in them. I’m not saying they don’t have any hops, but TYPICALLY you don’t find that characteristic in them in a noticeable amount. Now, my oaked bourbon stout had both Northern Brewer and East Kent Goldings in it, but when smelling and drinking it, you don’t really notice them. Porters on the other hand tend to have a touch more hops present, generally speaking. Stouts were originally the stronger brother of the porter, that’s no longer the case, so saying that it is stronger, or has a higher gravity is incorrect (Imperial versions aside). I know some folks might argue with me, but from what I have found and can tell from my own ‘experiments’, the only real differences are the lack of roasted barley in porters and the lack of a real hop profile in a stout. So, in today’s trend of pushing the brewing envelope and experimenting with flavors and styles, the lines between these 2 great beers will be grayed even further.