Come mid-March, beer drinkers across the nation will begin to exhibit very strange behavior. For one day only, imbibers long accustomed to draining frosted mugs of sparkling, golden lager will instead fill their glasses with a roasty, pitch black brew crowned with a ring of dense, creamy foam. And they’ll profess to love it, all in celebration of a saint named Patrick.
Yes, St. Patrick’s Day is nearly upon us once again, and with it comes unequalled demand for all things Irish, from stew to songs to stout. But especially stout.
Although the Irish have, like most of the rest of the world, long since shifted their loyalty to lager—it now outsells the black stuff there—stout is still unquestionably the trademark drink of the Emerald Isle.
For most people, however, their knowledge of stouts stops there. In fact, misconceptions about the drink abound.
Many believe, for example, that stout is heavy and filling, when in fact the relatively light carbonation of most stouts makes them seem less stomach stretching than more bubbly lagers. Others will swear that a pint of stout is “a meal in a glass,” when its calorie count is actually about the same as or even lower than most mainstream beers. You likely would have to search long and hard to find a non-Irish person who is aware of Irish stouts’ relatively low alcohol content, about 4 percent to 4.5 percent alcohol by volume.
Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding, though, is the notion that there exists a single style of stout. In fact, there are many.
Stout was born not in Dublin but on the docks of London, where early versions of dark-hued and slightly sour ale were dubbed porter, reputedly in honor of the beer-drinking porters who worked those same docks. Eventually, darker and even roastier versions of the beer began to appear, called stout porters and, eventually, just stouts. It was this family of ales that made its way across St. George’s Channel to become the favorite beer of Ireland.
But stout’s story didn’t end there. The dry, vaguely coffeeish Irish stout has numerous stylistic siblings, including one that sounds more like a breakfast drink than it does an end-of-the-day restorative.
Oatmeal stout, a style popular with many Craft brewers in North America and the U.K., is best identified by its smooth, almost silky mouth feel, a product of the oats used in its creation. Oatmeal stouts feature a slightly higher alcohol content than similar beers, about 5 percent alcohol by volume, and often also feature a slightly sweet and fuller-bodied character. Arguably less suited to sipping with raw oysters—a classic pairing with Irish stout—they nevertheless make terrific partners for long-simmered stews and braised red meats.
The strongest of the stout family is the Imperial stout, first brewed with large quantities of hops and fermented to elevated alcohol contents to withstand the rigors of shipment from England to Russia and the Baltic states. Almost always rich in flavor, sometimes almost oily in texture and usually between about 8 percent and 10 percent alcohol by volume, Imperial stouts are typically served as late-night digestives, although they will pair well with dark chocolate and may be served with intensely flavorful meats, such as rare rack of lamb.
Beyond these varieties, there also exist porters in both dry and fuller, more robust versions. They include oyster stouts, made either with real oyster liquor added or sometimes filtered through beds of crushed oyster shells; so-called Baltic porters, with sweet, relatively thin bodies and high strength; and stouts flavored with everything from cherries to chocolate.
No doubt on March 17, most beer drinkers will be selecting the Irish style of stout to fill their glasses. But it’s still nice to know that other options are available—on St. Patrick’s Day and all year long.
