BEER STYLE OF THE MONTH

Irish Stout

When people hear the word Stout they immediately think of the World Famous Irish Stouts like Guinness or Beamish.  Curiously enough Stouts actually first came into being in London, England and were called Porters.  These Porter beers were incredibly popular in Ireland starting around 1800 and by 1900 Dublin had surpassed London as the Porter capitol and continued to export huge amounts of Porter or Stout to England.

The closest products available today to the original stouts are the Extra Stouts that can be found from Guinness as well as smaller craft brewers like Schlafly.  These Extra Stouts are high in alcohol and have a pronounced burnt coffee flavor. The more common style of Irish stout is the lighter, dryer mixed gas dispensed version of Guinness or Beamish.  The Guinness Brewery first pioneered this style in the early 1960’s.  The forced mixing of carbon dioxide and nitrogen recreated the hand pumped look of early cask stouts.  In the old days the usual system of serving stout involved two barrels.  Upon ordering, each glass was filled about two-thirds full with an old mostly flat stout and then topped off with a lively younger stout.  This first one was kept in a cask on the floor (“low stout”) and the young one was kept in a smaller cask on a high shelf (“high stout”).  The modern version of Irish stouts has a nice dry bitterness with a creamy mouth feel.  An added benefit is that these dry nitrogen stouts are relatively low in alcohol and calories.