History of stout beer

A very dark, almost black ale. The dark color and roasted flavor are derived from the roasted barley, and/or roasted malt. The term stout was used in reference to strongly alcoholic beers.

In the 18th century the term stout porter was used to describe a porter, or dark beer, with alcohol content above 7 percent.

The stout beer then called the porter originated in London, England in the 1720s and popular among the working class. The story of Porter begins with the Industrial Revolution in England in the mid eighteenth century. Many farmers were forced off their land leading them to start new lives in urban areas.

The porter brand quickly became a popular and go-to drink for consumers. By the 18th century the Porter was the beverage of choice amongst Dockside and Street Porters and thirsty London worker.

Porters were brewed by dozens of breweries producing different styles and characteristics. Brewmasters would tweak recipes, add different ingredients and boost the alcohol content. One of these brews was a strong, dark, roasty beer named ‘Single Stout’. This appears to be one of the earliest examples of when the word ‘Stout’ was used to describe a beer.

According to a letter published in A History of Brewing by H.S. Corran, the earliest recorded use of the word “stout” in describing beer was in 1677 – “We will drink your health both in stout and best wine.”

The stout really took off when a brand-named Guinness became a household name and many people fell in love with the creamy, luscious libation they started assuming came with drinking a stout.

In 1817, Daniel Wheeler invented the roasting kiln enabled Guinness to use ‘black patent malt’ which gave the stout a more roasted and less sweet beer than the English brown barley. This was the introduction of Guinness’s famous classic dry stout.

Around 1820, “stout” emerged as a standard term for a beer that was slightly different than Porter. Guinness Stout is a dark beer that is made with roasted barley. It is brewed at a lower temperature than Guinness Draught, so it has a slightly different flavor.
History of stout beer

History of porter beer

Porter is a very dark ale. The darker color and special flavor come from toasting the malt before brewing. This usually results in a stronger taste and higher alcohol content.

Porters were one of the first commercially successful single styles of beer. They were brewed in very large quantities and the requirements to make a delicious, drinkable beer in large quantities led 18th century brewers to develop more sophisticated instruments and processes than they were used to using.

The name “porter” was used to describe beer in the early 18th century, it is thought because this dark beer was popular with street and river porters.

Porters can trace their roots back several hundred years and were originally brewed in England. References to the Porter style can be found as far back as the early 1700's. Porters eventually evolved into the Stout style of beer.

It reportedly got its start when a brewer in London combined an older and newer beer together in a barrel and started serving it. By combining beer from different sources, publicans could cater to their customers’ individual tastes, creating unique blends on the spot.

There are numerous legends around the invention of this black, bitter and thick beer. One has it that it was brewed for the first time at the Bellin brewhouse at Shoreditch in 1722.

The triple blend story involves a London brewer named Ralph Harwood, the owner of the Bell Brewhouse in Shoreditch. The discovery is supposed to have been either the practicability of mixing in the brewhouse two or three types of beer who had hitherto been blended by the publican at the counter or lese by a malt more highly dried or ‘browned’, than any had been before.

Regardless of how many parts there were, the brew caught on with the working class, especially those in London who were employed as porters, ultimately leading to the beer style being known as “porter.”.

Porter style emerged as aged, or “stale” versions of brown beer. Before 1700 London brewers were sending out their beer very young with it then required to be aged by the publican. Porter was the first style aged at the brewery so that it was fit for immediate consumption as soon as the publican purchased it.

A sharp rise in beer taxes in 1692 would have encouraged brewers to blend the differently taxed beers. Most likely, however, ‘ porter ’ s beer ’ was a popular synonym for ‘ brown butt - beer ’ , a long established London drink. Porter soon became known as a distinct beer style and dominated the British Empire for about 100 years.

The tremendous popularity of the Porter style among the general public of 18th century England coincided with the Industrial Revolution.
History of porter beer