Tasting Stale Porter: Pretty Things East India Porter

Oh right, that old porter tasting theme... or any posts at all.

This one comes from Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project's Once Upon a Time series. Both the recipe and the liquid in the bottle are getting on at this point. The recipe came from Barclay Perkins circa 1855, by way Ron Pattinson.

A shade darker than 1808 porter. Deep mahogany highlights. Bright coffee notes from the brown malt. The amber malt seems to accentuate both the brown and sweet pale malt. The black malt gives an extra roastiness beyond the brown malt. The bitterness of the hops has mostly faded at this point, only a slight, dusty black tea astringency remains.

I've one bottle left. I want to keep it as long as possible, best to tuck it away in a forgotten box of beers with similar again needs

Tasting Stale Porter: Soured Double Stout

Not what I had in mind when I blended a bit of sour beer into some stout nearly two years ago (Guinness FES is what I had in mind). I didn't consider what would happen when the lactic acid bacteria and super-attenuating Brettanomyces strains took hold in the lush, smoky stout.

All the roast, toast and smoke is still present. With it there is sharp, sour smelling funk. All present in the mouth along with solvent/plastic. The body torn to shreds. Thin, sharp and sour.

If you've had Madrugada Obscura from Jolly Pumpkin (who are usually great), this is like that. That austere sour character is not meant for stouts. Maybe I will try to mix a little bit into fresh porter to see if it gives a bit of complexity.

Tasting Stale Porter: Stout

Next up is a rather straightforward stout brewed about a year ago. The full recipe was lost to my old laptop. Pale, Amber, Brown and a touch of Black malt made for an old school (late 19th century). It was very nice fresh and this is the last bottle.

How many ways can I say black with tan head. Molasses appearance with fine crema. Smell has espresso, cherry and a touch of vinegar. In the mouth there's lots of coffee. Not diner coffee, a fruity East African roast from Stumptown put through a french press. It also has a nice sweet - sour balance like Guinness FES. A bit thin but still plenty rich. The year has given it an interesting dimension but I wouldn't give it much more time.

Tasting Stale Porter: 1808 Whitbread with B. Bruxellensis

I've realized that I have several porters and stouts that have been stashed away for some time. I reckon that all that stale (old) porter will make for a nice series of tastings. All but one are homebrew. That lone commercial beer is a special one, Pretty Things Once Upon A Time: December 6, 1855 East India Porter. For that one I've tried to simulate the voyage to India by leaving the bottle in my cabinet at ambient temperature throughout the summer and giving it a regular roll about a ships hold in the mid Atlantic.

First up is my own foray into historical brewing: August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter. I added Brettanomyces Bruxellensis to some bottles to mimic the secondary fermentation that old style stouts underwent. Original tasting here. I won't bother with pictures, matter of fact it's all dark.

Large tan head even with a careful, slow pour. Over carbonated, no way around admitting that. First hit on the nose is oak and smoke, likely a product of the Brett B as this recipe had neither component. A deeper whiff finds super dark chocolate (like that 85% stuff) and dried figs, maybe yogurty acidity. Hey, there's the smarties and clove from le gout d'Orval! The taste has changed dramatically from the velvety espresso and cocoa from the fresh beer. The bitterness has faded a bit, joined by a soft lactic acidity. The body is thinner than originally, but not the thin, sharp feel that I expected from previous tastings. A little cocoa powder with clove. All around an interesting beer to taste, much better now than the early samples of the Brett B portion. I am, however, glad that I chose B Claussenii for subsequent batches.

Tasting: August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter

Final Gravity: 1.020
Alcohol: 6.4 % ABV

Dark brown as expected with light mocha foam. The odd bit of the appearance is the turbity. The beer is very cloudy even though the Wyeast 1099 certainly flocculated. Smells and tastes like brown malt. Hmm, maybe I should include more detail than that. Aroma is coffee and dark chocolate. Some fruitiness... raisin, fig, and black licorice. The taste is more of the same with a long drying hop bitterness that accentuates the roast from the brown malt.

I added Brettanomyces Bruxellensis to some bottles (most Orval skittles to hopefully avoid bombs). That should be interesting in a few months.

August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter

A recipe courtesy of Ron Pattinson at Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. Whitbread Porter from 1808, about the year that "stout" surpassed "porter" according to the Google Ngram. The most relevant posts are here and here. The ingredients are simple, mostly pale malt, some brown malt and a heap of hops. The mash is mindboggling complicated with 3 gyles making for a long brew day. I tried to stay as true to the details that Ron emailed me. Exact ingredients and process are below. The original stats were OG 1.052.9, FG 1.010.2, ABV 5.64%.

Malt:
6.75 lbs Maris Otter
3.44 lbs Thomas Fawcett Brown Malt

Hops:
1 oz 5% Kent Goldings (whole leaf)
3 oz 5% Kent Goldings (pellet)

Mash:
1st gyle: ~2.25 gallons of 160 F. Mashed 2 hours at 145 F. Ran off 3 gallons and boiled for 1 hour.
2nd gyle: Added ~3 gal 170F water. Mash at 162 for 1.5 hours. Ran of 3 gallons and boiled 1.5 hours.
3rd gyle: Added water at 165. Temp had fallen. Stood 0.5 hours at 158 F. Ran off 4 gallons and boiled for 3 hours.

Hops additions:
1st gyle: 1.5 oz EKG 5% (1 leaf, .5 pellet) at 60 min. 0.5 EKG pellets at 30 min.
2nd gyle: Returned hops from 1st boil plus 1 oz EKG pellets.
3rd gyle: Returned hops plus 1 oz EKG pellets.

Yeast: Wyeast 1099 Whitbread. Pitched at 66 F.

Measured OG: 1.069
Efficiency: 94% (!!!!)

Below there are pictures of a sample of each gyle and all 3 blended together. The samples were taken directly out of the boil kettle so they have a bit of trub floating about. I figured the color would drop off more between gyles. Although this porter is not black like modern porter it still ended up darker than I expected. The mash was a real pain in the ass. Nearly twelve hours to get a regular strength wort. Despite the amazing efficiency, I won't go to all that trouble again.

Tasting: Foreign Stout

Take a gallon of Double Stout, blend with a bit of funky-sour beer and age for nine months.

All the 90% dark chocolate, espresso and peaty smoke is still there. Time and funk has brought out faint cherries, port and leather notes. The rough edges have been smoothed out but the beer still finishes dry with a nice roasted bitterness. That dry finish makes it suitable for a hot summer evening. This will likely continue to improve until I can no longer resist those last few bottles.

Tasting: Double Stout

I have been hotly anticipating this stout. As I had mentioned before, I have yet to brew a stout I was happy with. A new water profile after moving and a new recipe gave me hope that this would turn out well...


Pours the way an ideal stout should like used motor oil under a thick tan cap. Sticking my nose in the glass reveals many layers of roasted malt, from dark toast, chocolate and coffee to a bit of peaty smoke. The taste is more roast malt and bitterness. The hint of smoke is not the smooth campfire smoke of rauchbier, rather the peat and salt of scotch. But that is just a background note in the full on dark chocolate and toast that is the main flavor. Ultimately the body is not so heavy as to prevent repeated sipping. Finally I've brewed the stout I imagined.

SS Stout

I have yet to brew a porter or stout that has satisfied my picky taste in dark beers. I have high hopes for this hefty brew though. The recipe was formulated with the knowledge of stouts brewed in Britain in the late 19th century. How do I know what British stout recipes were like in the late 19th century? Well clicking here would be a start. The slight liberty I have taken is the use of Cherry Smoked Malt, which I can justify using to approximate the smoky flavor that some Brown malts of the period produced.

OG is an adequate 1.074. When I finished my kitchen looked the way my garage did after my first attempt at changing motor oil.