Stout

🌱 Vegan

Stout is a style of dark, bitter ale from the British Isles. Today it is mostly associated with Irish dry stout, although the family includes very different beers.

History

The style grew out of porter, a dark beer that emerged in London in the early 1720s. It proved popular with dockworkers: it had a bold flavour, kept longer than other beers, cost less, and handled heat well. London's porter breweries expanded quickly, and much of their output was exported to Ireland. By 1776 Arthur Guinness was brewing it at his St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.

The word stout, originally meaning 'proud' or 'brave' and later 'strong', appears in a 1677 document in the Egerton Manuscript as a term for strong beer. In the 18th century, 'stout porter' described the stronger versions of porter, and over time the word became tied to dark beer. In the 19th century the black colour came from black patent malt. After the First World War sweet stouts made with lactose became popular in Britain, while Ireland kept the drier standard stout. Stout's presence in Britain declined sharply towards the end of the 20th century, and interest returned with craft breweries.

Several types exist today: milk stout, which contains lactose, a milk sugar that brewer's yeast cannot ferment, adding sweetness and body; dry or Irish stout, the most widespread; and oatmeal stout, which uses oats, usually up to 30 per cent.

Culture

Stout has a firm place in British and Irish pubs, where it is often served on draught with a thick head. Guinness's Irish stout, brewed in Dublin and now owned by Diageo, is the best-selling stout in the world and for many people it defines the style. Other Irish brands, such as Murphy's and Beamish, also have a strong presence. Today craft breweries have brought the style back to specialist bars, with milk stouts, oatmeal stouts and stronger versions.

Legend and fact

It is often repeated that after the Second World War the British government ordered brewers to remove the word 'milk' from labels for milk stouts. However, no specific laws or orders supporting this have been found. What is documented are prosecutions in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1944 for misleading labelling. For years, dark beer was also claimed to be nourishing and was recommended to nursing mothers, but these were advertising claims of the period.

Trivia

Milk in the advertising. The Mackeson brand advertised that each pint of its milk stout contained the energising carbohydrates of 284 ml of pure milk, reflecting the style's nourishing image.

The widget. Some cans and bottles contain a small device called a widget that releases nitrogen when opened, reproducing the creamy texture of draught beer.

Minimal oats. In 1936, Barclay Perkins' oatmeal stout used only 0.5 per cent oats, a quantity too small to have much effect on its flavour or texture.