What's new

Good Porter Beer

I had a porter beer at a restaurant that SWMBO and I went to last weekend. I cannot find it at any of the grocery or liquor stores around here. It was a London Porter. Do you guys know of any other porter beers that are good. Thanks.
 
Porters are one of my favs and there are a lot of good porters out there but I do find that most are regional microbrews. Unfortunately the best store I have come across is Total Wine but they don't seem to have store in louisiana. There are some beers that are easier to find across the country like Anchor and Sierra Nevada, they both make a good porter. Rogue makes a mocha porter but it isn't as good as their chocolate stout IMHO. While they usually do not have a great selection you can sometimes find a few porters at upscale grcery stores like Whole Foods etc..

Good Luck
 
Most likely you had some Fuller's London porter, which for my unsophisticated palate is wonderful. You should be able to find it somewhere or encourage your local Beer and Wine merchant to bring it in.

Fortunately I'm able to buy Mayflower brewing company porter, but I'm pretty sure that they are Southern New England only.

$fullers_london_porter.jpg
 
I like local beer. Being in Western NC my favorite is Highlands Oatmeal Proter from Asheville, NC. I can buy it in my local grocery, but not sure how wide spread it is.
 
P

pdillon

If you have Founder's in Louisiana, get it. It doesn't get much better than that.


$Founders Brewing Company Founders Porter.jpg


Sierra Nevada makes a Porter and all of their beers are very good. It is available nationwide.
 
Founder and Anchor run 1 & 2 in my Porter lineup. They switch positions, depending on which is in my hand at the moment. :biggrin1:
 
Founders is a gem, I'm glad to see it is wide spread. I never noticed it on the west coast but found it when I moved out east.

BTW I normally don't like firestone beers but they make a special release one a year called Parabola. If you like dark beers and Port wines it is not to be missed. Not sure how availiable it is outside of CA but if you see it don't scoff at the 13$ price one bottle is more than enough for a night :)
 
I went with some Guinness extra stout for the time being. What is the difference between stout and porter beers. Thanks for the recommendations.
 
IMHO, stouts tend to be a little creamier tasting, perhaps richer, while porters tend to have a somewhat bolder and sometimes almost spicy character. Of course, each one you try will be a bit different, and your particular palate may inform you differently. At the end of the day, Porters and Stouts are probably something like first cousins, if not brothers in the Beer Family Tree
 
How about some Louisiana pride.. Abita Turbodog! That's a good "kind of porter" on the low end of the price scale. It's actually a dark ale, but drinks like a porter. Rogue Porter is good, I can attest to Anchor porter, I love a pint of Yuengling porter when I'm anywhere near Philadelphia.
 
A bartender once told me that a porter began as mixing a stronger stout and lighter ale. It became so popular among the river porters in London that they started premixing and offering it as it's own drink. I have no idea if this is accurate.
 
Hey TS, if you haven't drank these. I highly recommend them:

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php

this last one is the Coconut porter from Maui Brewing.
 
Porters and Stouts are very different beers. They both have a darker color and use roasted malts, which causes some confusion. The bigest difference is that Stout almost always uses Roasted Barley/Black Barley. RB is a specialty grain made from unmalted barley, then roasted at high temperatures until its black. It imparts a bitter almost burnt flavor, which also can include coffee, and a dryness.

Stout did in fact evolve from Porter. In fact, it was originally called "stout porter", meaning it was the strongest porter. Whenever it was served it was always stronger (bolder flavor, higher alcohol) than Porter. There are 3 styles of Porter. Brown Porter (Fuller's London Porter), Robust Porter (Bells Porter, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, Anchor Porter) and Baltic Porter (Nøgne ø porte, Southampton Imperial Baltic Porter.) Today, lines can easily be blurred, especially between a Robust Porter on the high end of the style guide and a Stout on the low end. The biggest difference will be the use of Roasted Barley. A stout doesn't have to use RB, but a Porter that does would probably be considered out of style if it was detectible. In addition, Porters will tend to have a malt sweetness that some dry stouts do not have. Sweet Stouts, Foreign Extra Stout, and Russian Imperial Stout will be sweeter because of the higher gravity and more unfermentable sugars. Usually, stouts need to be very dark brown to jet black in color. Porters will be light brown to dark brown, and even a little reddish.
 
Top Bottom