Dear beer drinkers, brewers and appreciators,
The history of beer follows a unique and interesting path, which parallels world history through all its turmoil, peace, conquest, loss and development. The Germanic people loved it, adding wild rosemary and anything they could find. The Romans, at the height of their power, wine goblets in hand, looked down upon it. And today, well, we love it again, and it’s not going anywhere.
In exploring the annals of beer history, we will look at a style of beer that has its origins in 18th century England: the porter.
Porter was, in a way, the beginning of modern beer. In 1722, Bell Brewery owner Ralph Harwood brewed batches of beer using equal parts pale, roasted and brown malts (the grain), according to Randy Mosher, author of “Radical Brewing.” Brown malt was the newcomer of the three malts. It was found in the Hertfordshire region of England and could not be brought to London consistently before certain canals were built in the 17th century. The brew quickly caught on and was a regional favorite of the porters, the men responsible for moving goods about the town. Thirsty from a day of heavy lifting, they could go to a pub and enjoy this style. It was eventually named after them.
Before the 18th century, brewers in England used the malt grains more than once, making weaker beers as the batches went on (there were usually two or even three batches done).The first running would be the most alcoholic and would be stored to gather and enhance flavor. It also preserved better with higher alcohol volume. On the second run through, the malt would be drank immediately, when fresh, and was weaker and less potent. The third run would be even weaker, if it was even done.
Porter was the first successful style to do an “entire” brewing, although it had been experimented with before. This meant that there were no second or third runnings; the grain was mashed, (meaning the sugar was taken out), at the maximum level the first time, making a more potent and flavorful beer. According to Mosher: “This method offered huge advantages in industrial settings, and the brewers of 18th century London were quick to realize this.” The Industrial Revolution and demand of growing populations played largely in the spread of porter.
Interestingly, porter “died out completely in England,” according to Mosher. Part of this extinction was due to changing flavors, techniques and tastes. As time went on, the process was refined and beers that might have been considered porters before could now be classified as stouts or even brown ales. Compared to a contemporary recipe, the 1776 porter (from Mosher’s book) included in this article is quite a bit different. Today, malt amounts vary and are not in equal thirds as I did in this recipe. They might use ingredients such as pale malt, Munich malt, medium crystal and black patent malt as well as different hops at varying addition times. They also call for the option of American Ale yeast, which would not have worked in the 1776 porter.
This beer has an initial nutty and roasty flavor and finishes with a faint sweetness, thanks to .5 ounces of licorice root, ground and added to the boil. At the time of this writing, the beer has not had the proper bottle conditioning time and therefore lacks full carbonation. With a little more age, I can expect a slight bitterness, which I think will serve the beer well.
Until next time,
Will Taylor
Brew Crew publicist and Mustang Daily copy editor
1776 Porter Recipe
Ingredients:
4.5 lbs English Pale Malt
4.5 lbs Biscuit Malt
4.5 lbs Brown Malt
(There is no extract equivalent for this recipe)
Hops & Spices:
4 oz Fuggle or Golding hops (treated as seen below)
0.5 oz Licorice Root, ground (added at 5 min)
Start soaking the hops in 160 F water. Mash malt at 156 F for one hour, then sparge. Take half gallon of the first runnings and put into the boil kettle without any hops. Boil this half gallon vigorously until reduced to a thick syrup (get it as dark as possible before it starts to burn). Then run off the rest of the first runnings and sparge onto this dark goo, add the hop infusion and boil for 90 minutes.
Fermentation in the large breweries was traditionally done at very warm temperatures, up to 80 F or more, but I recommend fermenting this beer with your favorite English Ale yeast at room temperature.