Stouts vs Porters

What's the difference between a Stout and a Porter? Basically both are the most popular Dark Beer styles in Craft Beer, but there is more to it than meets the eye!

Malt - Porters mainly use Malted Barley while Stouts use Unmalted Barley. Stouts historically used unmalted barley due to many reasons which include taxation and having a grainy feel & a coffee flavour which displays prominently from the unmalted barley.

Bitterness & ABV - Stouts generally tend to have a higher bitterness and ABV compared to the porter which tend to be more sessionable and less dry.

Flavors - Stouts have a narrow flavor profile mainly coffee, roasted and grainy, but Porters tend to bring a more variety in their flavors including vanilla, blueberry, coffee, caramel, chocolate etc.

Origin - Finally, Stouts originated from Ireland and Porters became popular in London.

The Image below shares the grain recipe we use at Brewklyn for our Dark Wheat Porter. We were the first in Bangalore to develop a Porter with Wheat and it's been on our tap for more than 4 Years now! Try identifying the ingredients around the beer and we'll have a surprise waiting for you next time you drop in to Brewklyn.

Hope you guys learnt something fun today!

Cheers

P.S - This is a general comparison and of course there are rare exceptions. Also many Stouts in India are brewed from malted barley as it's convenient for brewing and taste as well!