Winter calls for Porter and Stout Beer

Cold brisk nights fit nicely in a bottle of dark heavy beer. Blustery, snowy evenings for beer drinkers to start pouring their Porters and Stouts have come. These are dark, malty, thick brews which typically hold a higher original gravity (OG) and alcohol content (ABV) than lighter beers. They are favored in the colder fall and winter months. Many companies produce these beers not all in the same fashion.

Historically, Porter was the first dark ale. It is said the brew was a mistake, by accidently burning the malts used to brew light colored ale. This "mistake" was passed to the "porters" of the brew house as their refreshment during a hard days work. Porters were the employees who delivered brew house's beer to the pubs. These blue-collared workers loved the stuff and soon it became so popular breweries decided to brew it purposely. Brewed with 100% brown malts and top-fermenting yeasts, the flavor was rich and bitter. Stout, as it has become known, was a strong or fuller style Porter, first named Stout Porter. The recipe has been rearranged since then. Using pale malt, black patent malt, and even bottom-fermenting yeasts brewers have come up with many different recipes to make their cold-weather warmer.

One famous style is Baltic porter. This is made using bottom-fermenting yeasts and a mixture of pale and black malts, the majority of which are pale. This beer is lighter and not as strong compared to other Porters. These beers would adhere to a lager-favoring palate. These Baltic porters can work great for a group a people trying to get into the dark beer, looking to try an easy approach to malty brews.

If you favor the big heavy black ales, look no further than American micro-brews for one of these malty beverages. Ranging from steam brewed contributions to and gear-oil thick heavyweights. These styles can fit nearly any meal or fight and game night. Used are the traditional top-fermenting yeasts and almost all roasted and black patent malts. Breweries seem to compete against one another for who will have the thickest, darkest, heaviest porter each year. Some of them use oak-aging, others give them devilish names, some are content to have the label's illustration of somebody draining his truck's oil into a glass. Whatever the name or label this is the true style of the original porter. Opaque, stormy, filling and willing to sit on your tongue til the sun's rise.

No matter which style porter you are looking for, please ask a West Vail Liquor Mart employee to help you choose one to best suit your need or mood. We have tried the lot of them in the store and love to pass on just enough information on how the beer suited us that night. So go work hard, ride harder then wrap up your night with a delicious porter.

West Vail Liquor Mart is proud to offer to you these great selections:

Avery's Czar Imperial Stout and Mephistopheles Stout
Backcountry Brewery's Peak One Porter
Great Divide's Yeti Stout and Oak-Aged Yeti Stout
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout
Odell's Cutthroat Porter
Stone's Smoked Porter
Alaskan Brewing Company's Smoke Porter
Port Brewing's Old Viscosity
Green Flash Stout
Victory Storm King Stout
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Guinness
Sam Smith's Taddy Porter, Oatmeal Stout
Blatika's #6 Porter

Dan Ryan