Stouts & Porters

Without doubt the most popular beer style at the moment is IPA. These heavily hopped golden beers have really caught the imagination, fuelled by the interest in craft beers and use of American and Australian hops. However one other beer style that is also making something of a comeback is the good old fashioned stout or porter!

Now, most brewers bottled beer range is not complete without a beer of this style and its great to see. They are really very different to IPA's and Pale Ale's and have also moved forward from the harsh roast flavour that some stouts have had in the past. It's now common in these beers for chocolate and coffee to be dominant flavours making them sweeter and fuller.

Hook Norton Double Stout is a fine example of this style, a good balance of chocolate and roast and not as sweet as some of the more modern stouts can be. St Austell Brewery's recent addition of 1913 Cornish Stout is step back in time as the name suggests. Well balanced again, it has that touch of liquorish and roast typical of an oatmeal stout that make this a bit more of a savoury drink. Fullers London Porter is a quite superb beer and in my view one of the best beers of this style on the market. Finally, just like a dessert, Meantime Chocolate Porter is the perfect beer to finish the night on.

There was a time when the mere mention of the words stout and porter would be a firm indicator not to buy! However the next time you visit the local supermarket, sidestep the IPA's for once and give one these great beers a try. Don't spend the whole night drinking them, you won't enjoy it, but they do make a superb contrast to your normal beer choice so slipping one of these into your repertoire of an evening will enhance your overall enjoyment of drinking beer.

And to finish, if you did not already know, the difference between a stout and a porter is historically strength (abv%). Porter was traditionally the standard fayre that the London Porters drank and stout was a word used to describe the strongest beers - in fact historically there were even pale stouts brewed, but then that's another story.....