Beer Stout: History, Species

Stout is a special kind of beer. Rather, it's not even beer, but a dark el fortress 7-8%, cooked on the basis of hops, water, yeast and fried barley or burnt malt. At the current stage of the development of brewing, many varieties of stout are known. The most common of these are three types: milk stout - beer, which has a sweetish creamy taste, imperial stout with a strength of 7-10%, having a sharp alcohol taste, and a Baltic porter, which is a cheaper version of the imperial stout. And although the Baltic porters are more likely to belong to lagers than to aliens, it is traditionally considered that this beer is still one of the stout species.

From ale to porter and stout

For the first time, the stout beer was mentioned in 1677 by the British Count Francis Henry Egerton. In his diary Egerton speaks of stout as a very strong beer, without specifying whether it is dark or light.

For the first time dark beer was called porter in 1721. This name received a beverage cooked on the basis of roasted malt. In a short time it became so widespread that the brewers began to experiment with its fortress. The strongest of the varieties obtained was called stout. From which it can be seen that the stories of the appearance of the porters and stouts are closely related. Today, with the word "stout", any dark beer is associated, regardless of the fortress.

First porter

The place of birth of the porter was Londo. It was in the British capital in the 20s of the 17th century that dark beer was first cooked. His popularity grew very quickly, which was explained by low cost and the final price. It had a concentrated aroma, it did not sour for a long time, and the more it was stored, the stronger it got. For the next five decades, the export of porter was carried out exclusively from London. In 1776, he learned to cook in Irish breweries. Its modern appearance porter acquired only in the nineteenth century thanks to the use of black-malt, invented in 1817 by D. Wheeler. It was cooking beer on the basis of black malt, fried at 200 degrees, gave it a dark color, increased strength and a special sweetish taste, characteristic of modern stout.

Origin and translation of the word "stout"

Until the 14th century the word stout was translated as brave, proud. Since the 18th century, it began to denote force. Stout in those days it was customary to call absolutely any kind of beer. Stout - a word denoting in those days any strong ale, including pale. Much later, they began to be called exclusively dark beer with a high strength.

Unexpected application. Beer Stout as a medicine

The popularity of light and dairy stouts grew rapidly when the First World War ended, and the UK became the focus of its spread. Over time, dark beer began to enjoy much less demand, but the brewers did not give up, and in 1920, according to the results of a marketing research conducted in England, it was found that a pint of beer significantly increased the vitality of a person. In accordance with this result, the slogan "Guinness is good for you" was invented.

Dark beer was recommended not only for healthy people, but also for those who are in the postoperative period, pregnant women, as well as blood donors. By 1980, most of the breweries in Britain were engaged in producing stout beer, with the largest percentage being milk.

The story of how and why Stout became a Russian drink

At the present stage of the development of brewing, many varieties of dark strong ale are known. They differ in the degree of fortress, different tastes and color saturation. Stout is cooked in small batches, as it is commonly believed that this drink is specific, and only connoisseurs and connoisseurs are able to appreciate it. The most rare on sale on the territory of Russia meets, ironically, the imperial Russian stout. This drink got its name due to the one who was able to appreciate it first. Russian dark stout - beer, which has a high saturation, viscosity and carbon shade. Imperial status is characterized by almost black color.

So, the first connoisseur of the imperial ale was a great connoisseur and a lover of beer - Empress Catherine II. It was to her court that the first supplies of dark ale from Britain to Russia began. The way that the beer had to do to reach its consumer was not easy and long. The shortest road was the sea, and unacceptable conditions for the beer during transportation made it into a storm. In order to reach its consumer in a proper way with high quality characteristics, the beer had to be more dense and stronger than the traditional English stout. British brewers easily achieved this goal by increasing the amount of alcohol in the unit. Thanks to the increased strength, the drink not only acquired a more noble taste, but was also protected from various infections throughout the entire sea voyage, which greatly contributed to its long ripening.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the beer imperial stout is characterized by a saturated carbon color, its foam is also darker than in other varieties of dark ale, it has a high density and is close to the brown color. Despite the fact that the Russian imperial stout is a strong drink, there is practically no alcohol taste in it, on the contrary, it has a velvety taste of malt and fried barley, supplemented with bright shades of prunes or raisins. In the varieties of imperial ale, produced in the US, there are also notes of bitter chocolate, caramel and coffee.

Imperial Stout - the drink is thick, rich and strong. The ideal time for a bottle of this beer is an autumn or winter evening, after a dank gloomy weather, warming sweetish stout will be an excellent tool to combat depression and blues. The drink is poured into glasses with a special form designed to most clearly reveal the properties of dark strong beer. These glasses are called "sniffer" and "pint". Food that can emphasize the best features of the imperial Russian stout is cheeses with pepper and well-roasted meat or a huge burger. Some connoisseurs also prefer to use this type of beer as a dessert drink for dark chocolate or sweet desserts like tiramisu.

The Irony of Fate

Of the well-known Russian brewers, the technology of manufacturing the imperial stout was mastered by Baltika and Beer Card, but almost all the volume of dark strong beer produced by them is exported. Therefore, on the Russian counters a bottle of imperial Russian stout can be met extremely rarely.

The most approximate in terms of quality characteristics to the Russian stout, but a cheaper drink, is the Baltic porter. Rather, this kind of beer is more similar to a lager than to ale, but many people think otherwise. At the present stage, its production is established only in Poland.

Low-alcohol types of stout

To dark beer beverages with a low strength are Irish dry and oyster stouts. A distinctive feature of the Irish dark ale are the shades of coffee and fried barley in taste. The most famous beverages are Beamish, Murphy's (beer "Murphys Airish Stout") and Guinness.

They are also most often found on the shelves of domestic stores. The main feature of oyster stout is that during its cooking a good handful of oysters is added. It has long been a secret: oysters are an excellent snack for beer, but added to the brewing of ale, they give it even more sophistication and piquancy. For the first time in the brewing process, oysters were added to malt in 1929 in New Zealand, in London, it began to be practiced by the brewers only in 1983. So the beer was born an ostern stout, a dark ale with oysters.

Availability of the Irish stout in Russia

Recently, it became much easier to drink an Irish stout of Russian origin. Today, you can do it even without leaving home, if you purchase in advance a stylized original bottle of olive oil in the grocery store. In the old-fashioned vessel, the beer "Khamovniki" will be poured . Stout became closer to the Russian connoisseur after the Khamovniki Irish Stout beer was sold at the end of September last year, not only in bottled form, but also in bottles. Now they can fully enjoy not only in the bars of the country, but also spending time at home watching an interesting film.

El with the taste and aroma of milk chocolate

The sweetest dark ale is creamy, or as it is called otherwise - milk stout. Beer with this name usually has a low for a dark drink strength of 4-6%. It is necessarily pasteurized after cooking, since it additionally contains lactose, which is not able to ferment with yeast during fermentation. Its sweet creamy taste is also explained by the content of lactose. The barley flavor of the stout is light and pleasant, it is distinguished by coffee or chocolate notes.

Stout with very thick foam

Less sweet than milk is the oat stout beer. Lactose in it is replaced with oats. When cooking 30% of the ingredients is the grain, the addition of which gives the finished product a fabulous wheat, nut, and sometimes even a fruity flavor and aroma, in which one can always find easily perceptible notes of milk chocolate or cappuccino. Sometimes oats contribute to the appearance of noble beer bitterness and viscosity. The natural colors of oat stout are both light wheaten and dark color of strongly roasted oats. A distinctive feature of the drink is a very thick foam.

Unusual flavor combinations

The most unusual among the varieties of dessert dark beer are chocolate and coffee. To get such tastes, modern brewers use special technologies. The distinctive chocolate flavor of the stout is obtained thanks to the special strong roasting of dark malt. In some of the same varieties of this dark ale, chocolate or cocoa beans are added directly during cooking.

An unusually refreshing drink is recognized as a coffee stout. It has not only a noble coffee flavor and aroma, but also an invigorating effect characteristic of coffee beans. In the production of this type of ale malts are fried most strongly, until the appearance of a bright coffee taste and aroma. Interestingly, some brewers also sometimes add to this drink not only coffee, but also chocolate, and even mint, in order to obtain original taste characteristics. All these tricks lead to the invention of new types of coffee stouts.

When and with what it is correct to drink stout?

As you know, in order to fully enjoy all the taste characteristics of a drink, it is very important to choose the right occasion, time of its use and snacks. Stout beer has such a rich assortment of taste characteristics that many connoisseurs prefer to use it as an independent "dish", so as not to spoil the taste and fully enjoy the richness of the aroma.

Stout - the drink is usually strong, saturated and viscous-viscous, it is not suitable for hot summer days, they can not quench their thirst or cool. This goal is much more responsive camp. Stout - a drink, created to give pleasure, to drink it should be slowly and consciously. He has a truly multifaceted qualitative characteristics, capable of breaking even the taste of food, if it is incorrectly matched. Usually snack for stout is chosen according to two basic principles: similarity and contrast. For example, an ideal variant of a contrasting snack for dry Irish, milky, oatmeal, coffee and chocolate stouts will be oysters. They were traditionally used for food by the British and the Irish under dark ale more than two hundred years ago. Brine taste and tenderness of oysters perfectly emphasize the sweetness of a rich beer. An excellent addition to the rich bitter taste of the imperial stout will be a well-fried fat meat dish such as pork or beef steak stewed with spices of duck or slices of roasted bacon. It will perfectly emphasize stout and cheese. And the fatter and more consistent it will be, the higher stout lovers will appreciate it.

It is important to remember that almost any stout has, to some extent, sweetness. Dark ale will be an excellent accompanying drink for such desserts as tiramisu, ice cream, pudding, cream brulee or any sweet baked goods.

No less rich will be the taste of any kind of stout, if you drink it, eating a dish containing vanilla. On the contrary, it is undesirable to use dark ale with salted dried seafood, such as squid or fish. They only cross out the rich refined taste of ale.