OnTap Magazine

STYLE GUIDE PORTER OR STOUT? I used to know a brewer who would sniff and sip a stout and proclaim it to be more akin to a porter, or who’d take one whiff of a porter and insist it would be better labelled a stout. So what is the difference? Well, not a great deal and certainly nothing that this particular brewer would have been picking up with a cursory slurp. “For much of the past 300 years, to ask “what’s the difference between porter and stout?” would have been like asking “what’s the difference between dogs and Rottweilers?” So writes Martyn Cornell on his excellent beer blog, Zythophile .co.uk . Indeed, they all began life as porters and somewhere down the line, stronger versions of the style became known as “stout porters”. Eventually the latter part of the name fell away and they would simply be known as stouts – stronger than average beers. But these days there are stouts that are 4.5% ABV and porters close to 10%. And in terms of ingredients, appearance, flavour and aroma, the lines are so blurred it’s tough to tell them apart without first reading the label. DOCTRINE BREWING TWISTED TALISMAN BALTIC PORTER Dion van Huyssteen To me, a Baltic porter is all about the interplay between many-layered dark malt flavours and smooth alcohol warmth, and the recipe for Twisted Talisman is all about trying to get as many of these flavours to play together without one dominating the others. Nuts & bolts Batch size: 20 litres Method: All-grain Target OG: 1.070 Target FG: 1.017 Target ABV: 7% Target IBUs: 32 Mash: 60 min at 65°C Mash ingredients 7.2kg Munich malt 500g brown malt 500g caramel/crystal malt 350g Special B malt Boil ingredients 35g Southern Dawn [9.6%] @ 60 min Ferment ingredients W-34/70 or Oslo Kveik (for those without temperature control) Brewer tips The restrained roast character will remind you of coffee, caramel and a deep toasty notes while never crossing over into burnt roast territory. I do not use very dark roast malts like roast barley or Carafa (though you could use a small amount of the Carafa special if you like), rather getting a rich toasty base with the use of Munich as my base malt, with amber crystal malt bringing in sweet caramel and brown malt giving a lovely coffee character. Special B is added to help bring in that deep dried fruit flavour, which when combined with smooth alcohol warmth is reminiscent of brandy-soaked Christmas cake. Fermentis W-34/70 provides a lovely smooth lager character with a very restrained ester profile, I prefer to start warm at about 15°C when pitching and then drop the temp down to 12°C the next morning, bringing it up to 18°C once primary fermentation has almost finished. If you do not have temperature control, I have tasted an amazing Baltic porter fermented with Oslo Kveik (available from Liquid Culture), getting you that clean fermentation profile at much easier to control temperature ranges. This is definitely a beer that can benefit from ageing, and very few beers are as enjoyable as a well-aged three to four year old Baltic porter. Oxidation brings out additional port-like characteristics, and while the coffee flavours and toastiness do subside, the dark fruit aromatics come to the fore and give you a truly amazing winter sipper. dark ales even managed to get a foothold in a country where golden lagers dominated. And of course there is the English porter. ese days, it’s a full- avoured yet fairly easy- drinking ale that comes in below 5.5% ABV. Malt forward, it shows avours of bread, toast, caramel, nuts and chocolate. You’d be hard pushed to nd the smokiness of early brown malt or the sharp funk of Brettanomyces in the porters of today, but if you’re intrigued, gas up your DeLorean and I will give you the coordinates of a small and friendly brewery in Manchester that will transport you back to the golden era of porter in a single sip. 46 | Autumn 2021 | ontapmag.co.za