Porter beer: from the working class to the aristocrats

If you ask beer connoisseurs what a porter is now, many will answer: a noble dark beer whose flavor is dominated by notes of chocolate, fruit, coffee beans, biscuit and toast. But all these flavors did not appear at once, and far from always the variety was considered refined. How porter came to be and when it acquired a recognizable flavor profile — we’ll tell you in this article.

Back in the past

The first mention of porter dates back to the early 18th century. It went down in history as the first style to be aged — brewers used to put their products on the counter immediately after production.

Porter got its name from the English porter — loader. The point is that the new style became especially popular among the working class and port movers because of its high caloric content.

The first London Porters were much stronger than modern ones — about 6.6%. At first they were made exclusively from brown malt, then they switched to a mix of light and black malt — 95 and 5 percent respectively. Until now, this recipe is not considered strict, but many producers use it. Sometimes caramel, chocolate, brown and other varieties of malt are added instead of black malt, but not roasted, as it adds undesirable notes to the drink. Hops and yeast are usually English, but in other countries producers often change them to local ones.

At the end of the 18th century, porter became popular in Russia. In our country it was considered the drink of aristocrats. After World War II the drink was practically stopped being produced, and its triumphant revival took place in 1978 thanks to the efforts of the Penrhos craft brewery, which was later joined by other producers.

Types of Porter

There are several official types of porter:

• — brown — the weakest, with a strength of about 4.5%;
  — strong — existed until 2015, now conditionally divided into English with a strength of 4 to 5.4% with a pronounced malt character and American (bitter, dry, strength up to 6.5%);
  — «pre-dry» — reminiscent of American, but milder, strength up to 6%;
  — Baltic — the strongest porter up to 9.5%, with pronounced fruity tones.

How to drink?

Porter is recommended to be consumed chilled to 8-12 degrees. It goes well with mature cheeses, various meat dishes, including steak, chocolate desserts.

You can try a quality porter in any of Lambic beer restaurants. Our list includes hundreds of varieties from all over the world, as well as many delicious dishes, pleasant atmosphere and excellent service. Come — we will find something to surprise you!

Date : 09 August

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