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By Ryan Sloan

Posted: Tue, Feb 16, 2010 : 12:03 p.m. Topics: Entertainment, Food & Grocery

A lesson in beer: stout vs. porter

This post could very well be a story: The tale of two beers closely linked in origin, born in the pubs of London, weaving a path through the

industrial revolution, weathering the inter-war years and emerging as unique and diverse styles upon the wave of the craft-beer revolution.

While the history behind the origins of porter and stout is certainly intriguing, it is not my mission (nor is it within the reasonable scope of

this post) to thoroughly investigate the past of these two beers. Rather, I am interested in the practical differences between stout and

porter; differences that you (the beer consuming public) should know the next time you enter a store or bar.

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The Beginning

While a thorough history lesson is out of the question, any discussion of the relationship between these two styles would be incomplete

without a brief trip to the past. Porterwas born in the 18th century pubs of London, a blend of younger pale ales and darker older ales that

resulted in a full flavored and hearty pint favored by the porters of the city. While the specific composition, name and originator of this blend

is a disputed topic, the growth of the porter style outside of the pub is not.

Londons breweries began producing a beer intended to mimic the popular pub creation on an industrial scale. These porters were

produced to varying strengths, with stronger fuller bodied porters being labeled "stout porter." Eventually, porter was dropped from the label

and stout, as a distinct style, was born.

Stout and Porter Today

Modern brewing practice entails one (albeit fuzzy) distinction between stout and porter. Stout is brewed with roasted barley; porter is not (or

less commonly). Roasted barley is un-malted and has been roasted at a high temperature to a blackened state. It imparts a range of

roasted aromas (think coffee and dark-chocolate) to beer as well as a dry bitterness on the palate (as opposed to the resinous bitterness

imparted by hops).

The use of roasted barley means stouts, broadly speaking, have more pronounced and deeper roasted notes to the nose, as well as a

more pronounced dry bitterness on the palate. Porters are commonly perceived as sweeter on the nose and palate. Furthermore, the color

range for stouts is darker, ranging from dark brown to black, while porters rest more firmly in the brown spectrum.

The Fuzzy Part

The economist in me wishes I could assume the rest of this article out of the model. The thorough journalist in me, however, is thrilled by

the opportunity to untangle the more nuanced reality of the relationship between stout and porter. While stouts almost universally employ

the use of roasted barley (there is only one exception I can think of), roasted barley also makes its way into a number of porters. The

simple distinction between stouts and porters is further complicated by the extreme diversity within the stout and porter categories.

A Range of Styles

Stouts range from dry to sweet, from low in alcohol to high. They contain a wide range of specialty ingredients, from oatmeal, to chocolate,

to peanut butter (see Short's). Porters also manifest in numerous forms, from relatively mild to strong, from rather standard production to

smoked and barrel aged beers. This diversity makes any simple distinction between the two styles almost irrelevant. The following is a brief

summary (look to a future post for a more exhaustive investigation of stouts) of the styles of stout and porter:

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