When the weather gets cold, its time for a nice porter or stout. But what exactly is the difference?

Quite frankly, I can’t tell the difference. To me, they are all dark beers made from well-roasted barley malt.

The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines, lists American Porter, American Stout, Imperial Stout, English Porter, Baltic Porter, Pre-Prohibition Porter, Irish Stout, Irish Extra Stout, Sweet Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Tropical Stout, and Foreign Extra Stout – that’s a lot of porters and stouts. The porter, according to the BJCP is a slightly paler, less robust version of a stout. The American stouts and porters tend to have higher ABVs and could possibly have more hop character. But again, for me, a non-BJCP, I can’t differentiate a porter from a stout. Below are a few stout and porter pictures.

Beer historian, Ron Pattison gets into the gory details, addressing this very same question in What’s the Difference between Porter and Stout? Historically, porters came from brown ales. The bottom line, as Pattison puts it: “All stouts are types of porter. But not all porters are stouts. Only the stronger ones.”

For me, a Guinness Draught (an Irish Stout) is about as good as it gets, low ABV, filling and full of roasty flavors. For a Chocolate Stout (and I love a good chocolate stout), my favorite is Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout.

As for porters, I really didn’t have a favorite porter until I tried the Manor Hill Black Walnut Porter. Also, Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter is intriguing with its Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup flavors. Porters are a forgotten beer style but in years gone by, they were the cat’s meow. George Washington couldn’t get enough of Robert Hare’s porter. In “The Brewmaster’s Table“, Garrett Oliver suggests pairing a Sam Smith Taddy Porter with scallops. I’ll be eating scallops in a few days at Hudson Coastal. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll have a suitable porter available.

Curious about these brown and black liquid gems? My advice, head to the Black Friday event at Max’s and get a flight or two to pick out your favorite.

Many thanks to Hopnose for posing this important question.

Cheers!

Warren