STOP! Porter time.

Stout is a beer with quite an interesting history. Before the early 1700's the huge majority of Beers were dark, largely because the art or lightly roasting malt hadn't yet been developed. Stout's are made with dark malt, obviously, and traditional stouts were simply the stronger Dark Ales. Stouts today are thicker and creamier than Porters but both tend to be 4-5% in strength, and with lasting head. I'll look at some of the most popular Stouts and one of the best Porters.

Without a doubt the most recognisable Stout in the world is Guinness Extra Stout or Draught from the tap - interestingly Guinness was originally called Guinness Extra Superior Porter which should tell us something about the intertwined nature of these beers.

At it's best Guinness is rich, creamy, slightly chocolate and coffee with roasted malt and only the merest hint of bitterness. I say "at it's best" because a lot of the magic about a Guinness depends on the pour and the condition of the Beer. Too often Guinness is less than amazing because of bad carbonation lines - either not clean, or not mixed correctly. Although developed in London, large amounts of Stout were shipped to Ireland where it quickly became the tipple of choice, and it wasn't long before the Irish started brewing it themselves and what a great job they've done ever since!

There really isn't anything quite like nestling down in front of a roaring fire at the local pub on a cold winters night and enjoying a Guinness!

Guinness is classified as Irish Dry Stout, as are the other mainstays of Stout: Murphys and Beamish. Aside from dry Stout there are a few other varieties of this delicious wholesome beer. Imperial Stout would probably be the next most popular, so names because of it's origins in Russia. Imperial Stout tends to be stronger, ranging up to 11%abv and was designed to help Russians stay warm in the long cold winter months. There are also Milk Stout and Oatmeal Stout the former being sweeter (Lactose sugar is non fermentable to brewers yeast) and the latter being creamier. Porter can have all of the flavour characteristics as Stout but without so much of the variety, and as I said, less thickness.

Stout and Porter are also popular with micro brewers and craft brewers, and many beer makers include a Stout/Porter in their range. I'm going to skip straight to a microbrewery just outside of Naiper: Hawkes Bay Independent Brewery.

Black Duck Porter lives up to all of the promise of a great Porter. It's rich, has perfect creaminess and lovely mouth feel, being thick but not quite as heavy as a proper Stout. Flavour wise Black Duck is outstanding, with all the goodies in there in well balanced measure, from hints of dark chocolate through to a lovely coffee bitterness, HBIB have done very well with this. If I was to fault this beer, particularly in comparison to Guinness it would be that it's head didn't last all the way down. Normally I don't make a huge deal about head retention but this beer was absolutely outstanding so I thought I needed to find some fault.

With winter on the way I'm going to look forward to more Stouts and Porters... and getting the fireplace cranking!