At Beer Sapiens we continue with our objective of bringing beer culture to all audiences, in a fun and accessible way. And for this we are going to tell you, throughout the year, the characteristics, but also the history and some very surprising curiosities of the different styles of beer.
This month of February we continue with styles of black beer, which are the ones you want in this cold, right? Today we are going to talk about the Dry Stout , a very "solid" style for the harshest days of winter.
What is the Stout style?
To fully understand the history of this style, we must first talk about the English term “ stout ”. This term, which means " robust ", began to be used to refer to the strongest versions of British Ales. Curiously, in 1677 it appears for the first time in a document defining a style of beer…. it was not dark.
But it was in the 17th century when the term Stout began to be used as we know it today. At that time, the style that triumphed in England was the Porter. The brewers elaborated different variants of this style, with a graduation of strength, and the most robust were defined as "Stout Porter". This style became very popular during the next century.
Over time, the word “ Stout ” gained new meaning in the British brewing world, shifting from describing a strong Porter to referring to its darker, toastier variants.
So what is the Dry Stout style like?
Although, as we have told you, the Stouts have English origins, the Dry Stouts are typically Irish. And its invention stems from a technical breakthrough that radically changed manufacturing and separated the two styles.
In the early 1800's, Daniel Wheeler invented and patented a rotary drum roasting method for coffee and cocoa. And someone must have thought that perhaps malt for beer could be roasted that way, too. This is how a new type of malt arose, very roasted and without a smoked touch (like the English Browns) that was baptized as Black Patent.
The English brewers didn't like that malt… but the Irish loved it! In this way, the Porters that were produced in and around Dublin began to be really different.
Another change in the Dry Stout
Already two different styles, Porters and Irish Stouts still shared some commonalities, such as maturing in woody tones, which gave them a complex character and smooth acidity. In 1950, another technological evolution marked a clear difference between the styles: the Guinness brewery began to use nitrogenation to age the beer. This is how the successful Guinness Draugn on barrel was born in 1959.
In short, this style has changed a lot over the years. In fact, if we had drunk a Dry Stout in London around 1800, it would seem more like a Rodenbach, that is, a red Ale, than a Guinness. But the style grew stronger, darker, and aged to, around 70 years ago, reach its current profile as an unaged session beer served with nitrogen. And best of all, this style has become one of the main national symbols of Ireland.