Beer Geek’s Guide to Stout and Porter

Is there seriously any difference between stouts and porters? Which one of these two styles is more appreciated according to the beer enthusiasts?

It’s easy to assume that there’s no difference between stouts and porters. Both could simply be described as ‘dark beers’. Or at least that seems to be the presumption if you try to taste the difference. It’s actually a recognized fact that even many breweries don’t know if they’re selling stout or porter.

However, these two words shouldn’t be used precisely as synonyms for each other. Actually there are a couple of reasons why these two styles are separate. For instance, generally they are brewed with different kinds of malts. Secondly, their specific taste characteristics can be detected, and that’s why the two styles usually have their own categories in competitions.

A perfect stout would be described as a dark, roasted and crisp beer with crunchy dryness and hop bitterness in its taste. There can also be perceived hints of ground espresso coffee beans. Instead a nice porter has a rich, dark aroma from grain, coffee and chocolate, but also a shade of bitterness from the hops. Mouthfeel should be creamy, yet porters are usually dry and hoppy in character, with a long and quenching finish, as says the official portrayal of the World Beer Awards. 

What about the malts then? Formerly the easiest or the most tangible way to identify the difference was by comparing the malts. Stouts were brewed with roasted barley, porters with malted barley. Nowadays this tiny detail is still the most common way to make the difference, but it’s not very reliable anymore.

A Growing Tendency for Higher Alcohol Volumes

Many people do have an assumption that porters are always lighter than stouts when it comes to alcohol volume. But that’s not exactly so either. Imperial porters do exist, as there are Imperial stouts, too. Though in the 19th century stout literally meant ‘strong’, nowadays the beer style doesn’t directly guarantee a higher or lower alcohol volume. That’s why we use these key codes, imperial or double. 

But still no one can deny this all over growing tendency supporting high alcohol volumes. And that’s why stouts have become more appreciated with their normally higher volumes, while porters have backed down and stayed with lower ones.

Especially the craft beer brewers have done an impressive job stretching the ‘borders’ and mixing up these two classic styles. And we may allow them to do that, because, after all, aren’t we all enjoying this new era of obscuring traditional styles and having new innovative beer characters at the markets?

Thanks to craft beer brewers, we now have flavoured stouts and pastry porters that can taste whatever we can imagine. 

A Glance at the History

These two similar beer styles do also share a common past. Porter was invented first, in the early 18th century. The name comes from the English dock workers, porters, who after a hard working day went to a local public house to have a dark ale, which afterwards was named after those porters. Then porters, meaning the beer this time, were brewed in different variations. And the fullest one, the brown stout or the stout porter, little by little lost a half of its name and it came to be called, well, just stout. 

So, all the appreciation to porter, which was a source for both of these styles. In fact, stouts and porters were the same still in the beginning of the 19th century, stout only meaning a strong porter. The real separation got started after the halfway point of the 19th century, when the recipes of the brewers in London began to diverge. 

Centuries after that we are now at the point that again these two styles are almost interchangeable. Along with the craft beer trend, the beer enthusiasts have started to appreciate the individual and experimental recipes more than just the traditional ones, and perhaps that’s why the difference between stouts and porters stays still as a mystery.

The Top 10 Best-Rated Stouts

At the head of the list we’ll find a quite traditional stout that outstrips its competitors with an average rating of 4.15. KBS Kentucky Breakfast Stout (2017), brewed by Founders Brewing Company (United States), is “an imperial stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year to make sure wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish”.

The alcohol volume is truly marked, when comparing stouts. But there also seems to be an upper limit. After that magical cap, ratings start to become lower. This hasn’t happened with Singularity, brewed by Estonian Lehe Pruulikoda. With its 18%, Singularity is the most strongest stout in the top 10. As said in one of the Pint Please reviews: “This beer is as dark as the soul of the devil and no light shall penetrate it”.

The Pint Please users are highly recommending Estonian stouts (and porters), as was already noted last week when we presented the best-rated Estonian beers. For example, Tumeaine Port/Whisky BA was also mentioned in the last post, which you can read here.

Even though Estonian stouts are dominating the list, the selection is pretty versatile and surprising. Countries making it to the top 10, apart from the United States and Estonia, are Spain, England, France, Finland and Norway.

The Top 10 Best-Rated Porters

Basically the same breweries that are dominating the top 10 list of stouts have also managed to climb up to the top 10 of porters.  Again, Founders Brewing Company is at the head of the list with its imperial flavoured porter Panther Cub 2021. This porter is spiced with vanilla extract and maple syrup making it smooth and deep in character. It has also been aged in Bourbon barrels, but its alcohol volume is quite moderate (9,2%), compared to the best-rated stouts.

Estonian brewery Põhjala has its own valued wax seal series, as do many breweries, and Tumma Tauko (Cellar Series) is a good example of Estonian brewing skills. Baltic porter is a historical version of imperial porter in the Baltic region. Tumma Tauko is a brownish-black, full-bodied velvety porter with roasted malts, fruitcake and plums, and notes of chocolate and syrup.

On the third place we’ll find a Dutch imperial porter Liquid Desserts 08: Salted Fudge Hazelnut Brownie Porter. Liquid Desserts is a series of imperial pastry porters, brewed by Big Belly Brewing Company, and this example of the series is an actual delicacy. This toasted and roasted porter has a bunch of notes including chocolate malt, waffles, toffee, hazelnut and light vanilla.