When it comes to autumn sipping, there are a lot of fall beer styles to choose from. They include Märzens, Vienna lagers, dark lagers, amber ales, brown ales, stouts, and pumpkin beers. There might not be a more underrated fall beer style than the classic porter.
What is a porter?
For those unaware, a porter is a top-fermented ale known for its dark brown to pitch black appearance. First introduced in the 1700s in England, the style is often compared to the similar stout. It’s known for its lighter flavor profile and flavors of dark chocolate, lightly roasted malts, and toffee.
“A porter is basically the velvet smoking jacket of the beer world. Dark, roasty, and layered, it was born in 18th-century London pubs to fuel dock workers (“porters,” hence the name) through soot-covered days,” says Garth E. Beyer, Certified Cicerone and owner/founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin. “Think of it as a hug that just happens to come in liquid form.”
In my years of writing about alcohol, I’ve spent a lot of time drinking and comparing different beer styles. When it comes to beers to bridge the gap between summer and fall, I’ve never found a better choice than the porter. Sweeter and more well-balanced than the stout, it just might be the perfect beer for all autumn weather.
The difference between a porter and a stout
While appearance-wise, the porters and stouts look similar, they are different. Stouts are known to be stronger, richer, and more robust thanks to the use of roasted barley. They tend to have more bitter, coffee-like flavors. Porters, on the other hand, are made only with standard roasted malts and tend to be sweeter and have more of a chocolate and caramel flavor.
“If porter is jazz, stout is rock,” says Beyer. “Same instruments—malted barley, roasted grains—but played louder, heavier, with more thump on the bass. Stouts tend to lean bolder, thicker, sometimes creamier, while porters dance in the middle ground with nuance and subtlety. The lines blur, of course—brewers are mischievous like that—but the spirit is different: porter whispers; stout shouts.”
The porter is the king of fall
You might be wondering why the porter is such a great choice for sipping while you watch leaves tumbling slowly to the ground.
“Because fall isn’t about thirst—it’s about depth,” says Beyer. “A porter pairs perfectly with sweater weather, the smell of woodsmoke, and the sound of leaves crunching underfoot. It has enough roast to echo your morning coffee, enough chocolate to feel indulgent, but it won’t weigh you down like a winter blanket.”
The best porters to drink this fall
There are a handful of notable porters available at most grocery and beer stores that you should add to your fall must-try list. These include Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, Deschutes Black Butte, Ballast Point Victory at Sea, Oskar Blues Death By Coconut, and more. Try one or more of the beers above or your favorite porter. Just don’t sleep on the style this fall. You don’t need to go directly from your summery pilsners and IPAs to barrel-aged stouts and barleywines.
