Beer Matters
The Stout: A History BY JAMIE DOOM WINTERS IN THE SANDHILLS are cold and rainy interspersed with warmth and sun. If you don’t like the weather, just wait, because it will probably be changing soon. But the shorter days and longer nights are perfect for one beer no matter the temperature outside: Stout! So whether you are grilling on the back porch or huddled up under a blanket near a bonfire, let’s raise a mug of this dark smooth drink in celebration of its rich historical tradition. The London Porter The history of the stout begins in England
in the 1700s with a simply named brown beer. The new and exciting pale ale had become the trend in London, and other breweries wanted to produce a competitor. So brewers started making a decently hopped brown beer that required longer fermentation times. The beer was placed in wooden barrels for months to mature and let this hoppier beer mellow out. What emerged was a more calorie-rich and carbohydrate-laden concoction that was popular among the men who took the heavy freight from the ships in the harbor and transported it all over town. The beer was so associated with this particular
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industry that, as early as 1721, it took on the name of its most avid drinker, the porter. The Dry Irish Stout In 1859, an Irishman by the name of Arthur Guinness took over an unused brewery at Dublin’s St. James’s Gate. In the early days, he brewed the popular British porter, but a stronger version was sometimes called a stout. In 1817, a man named Daniel Wheeler invented the roasting kiln for making black malt, and this changed the porter forever. In 1821, Arthur Guinness II was able to take the
