Product Code Database
Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale.
The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the Egerton Manuscripts, referring to its strength. Porters were brewed to a variety of strengths, with the stronger beers called "stout porters". The history and development of stout and porter are thus intertwined. The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press 1998 Porter and Stout – CAMRA, Web.archive.org
Originally the adjective stout meant "proud" or "brave", but after the 14th century it took on the connotation of "strong". The first known use of the word stout for beer was in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript, the sense being that a stout beer was a strong beer. The expression stout porter was applied during the 18th century to strong versions of porter. Stout still meant only "strong" and it could be related to any kind of beer, as long as it was strong: in the UK it was possible to find "stout pale ale", for example. Later, stout was eventually to be associated only with porter, becoming a synonym of dark beer.
Because of the huge popularity of porters, brewers made them in a variety of strengths. The beers with higher gravities were called "Stout Porters". There is still division and debate on whether stouts should be a separate style from porter. Usually the only deciding factor is strength.
"Nourishing" and sweet "milk" stouts became popular in Great Britain in the years following the First World War, though their popularity declined towards the end of the 20th century, apart from pockets of local interest such as in Glasgow with Sweetheart Stout.
Beer writer Michael Jackson wrote about stouts and porters in the 1970s, but in the mid 1980s a survey by What's Brewing found just 29 brewers in the UK and Channel Islands still making stout, most of them milk stouts. In the 21st century, stout is making a comeback with a new generation of drinkers, thanks to new products from burgeoning microbrewery.Smithers, Rebecca (2012). "British drinkers toast stout revival". 23 April 2012. The Guardian.
Milk stout has historically been claimed to be nutritious, advertised to nursing mothers as helping to increase their milk production. An archetypical surviving example of milk stout is Mackeson Stout, for which the original brewers advertised that "each pint contains the energising of 10 ounces 1/2 of pure dairy milk." The style was rare until being revived by a number of craft breweries in the twenty-first century.
Well known examples include the Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, the Left Hand Milk Stout and the Lancaster Milk Stout.
There were prosecutions in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1944 under the Food and Drugs Act 1938 regarding misleading labelling of milk stout.
Even though a larger proportion of oats in beer can lead to a bitter or astringent taste,Lewis, Michael J. (1995). Stout, p. 50. Brewers Publications, during the medieval period in Europe, oats were a common ingredient in ale,Cornell, Martyn (2003). Beer: The Story of the Pint, p. 49. Hodder Headline, and proportions up to 35% were standard. In 17th-century England, mixed oat and barley malt was referred to as 'dredge'. Despite some areas of Europe, such as Norway, still clinging to the use of oats in brewing until the early part of the 20th century, the practice had largely died out by the 16th century, so much so that in 1513 Tudor period sailors refused to drink oat beer offered to them because of the bitter flavour.Page 78, Beer: The Story of the Pint, Martyn Cornell, published 2003 by Hodder Headline,
There was a revival of interest in using oats during the end of the 19th century, when (supposedly) restorative, nourishing and invalid beers, such as the later milk stout, were popular, because of the association of porridge with health.Page 158, Beer: The Story of the Pint, Martyn Cornell, published 2003 by Hodder Headline, Maclay of Alloa produced an Original Oatmalt Stout in 1895 that used 70% "oatmalt", and a 63/- Oatmeal Stout in 1909, which used 30% "flaked (porridge) oats".Pages 59 & 60, Old British Beers, Dr. John Harrison, published 2003 by Durden Park Beer Circle,
In the 20th century, many oatmeal stouts contained only a minimal amount of oats. For example, in 1936 Barclay Perkins Oatmeal Stout used only 0.5% oats.Barclay Perkins brewing records in the London Metropolitan Archives As the oatmeal stout was brewed in a parti-gyle process with their porter and standard stout, these two also contained the same proportion of oats. (Parti-gyle brewing involves extracting multiple worts from a single mash through separate sparges. Each subsequent sparge extracts a more diluted lower gravity wort from the same ingredients in proportion. As a result each wort is boiled and fermented to produces a different strength beer from same ingredients) The name seems to have been a marketing device more than anything else. In the 1920s and 1930s Whitbread's London Stout and Oatmeal Stout were identical, just packaged differently. The amount of oats Whitbread used was minimal, again around 0.5%.Whitbread brewing records in the London Metropolitan Archives With such a small quantity of oats used, it could only have had little impact on the flavour or texture of these beers.
Many breweries were still brewing oatmeal stouts in the 1950s, for example Brickwoods in Portsmouth, Matthew Brown in Blackburn and Ushers in Trowbridge.Whitbread Gravity Book, Whitbread Archive in the London Metropolitan Archives When Michael Jackson mentioned the defunct Eldrige Pope "Oat Malt Stout" in his 1977 book The World Guide to Beer, oatmeal stout was no longer being made anywhere, but Charles Finkel, founder of Merchant du Vin, was curious enough to commission Samuel Smith to produce a version. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout then became the template for other breweries' versions.
Oatmeal stouts do not usually taste specifically of oats. The smoothness of oatmeal stouts comes from the high content of proteins, lipids (includes fats and waxes), and gums imparted by the use of oats. The gums increase the viscosity and body adding to the sense of smoothness.
Modern oyster stouts may be made with a handful of oysters in the barrel, hence the warning by one establishment, the Porterhouse Brewery in Dublin, that their award-winning Oyster Stout was not suitable for vegetarians. Others, such as Marston's Oyster Stout, use the name with the implication that the beer would be suitable for drinking with oysters.
In Canada, Imperial Stout was produced in Prince Albert first by Fritz Sick, and then by Molson Brewery following a 1958 takeover. Denmark's Wiibroe Brewery launched its 8.2 per cent Imperial Stout in 1930. Helsingør Leksikon. Wiibroes Bryggeri. (in Danish) The first brewery to brew an Imperial Stout in the United States was Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing.
Imperial stouts have a high alcohol content, usually over 9% abv, and are among the darkest available beer styles. Samuel Smith's brewed a version for export to the United States in the early 1980s, and today Imperial stout is among the most popular beer styles with U.S. craft beer. American interpretations of the style often include ingredients such as vanilla beans, chili powder, maple syrup, coffee, and marshmallows. Many are aged in bourbon barrels to add additional layers of flavour. The word "Imperial" is now commonly added to other beer styles to denote a stronger version, hence Imperial IPAs, pilsner etc.
A similar beer style, Baltic porter, originated in the Baltic region in the 19th century. Imperial stouts imported from Britain were recreated locally using local ingredients and brewing traditions.
|
|
