It's Sunday!
Me and the Mrs. usually walk over to the local grocery store to get some items for the week. We take the dog with us, and I usually wait outside with him and a pint of the most amazing beverage in the world!
Today, I found this Quiscalus Oatmeal Stout.
The name means grackle, is a medium-sized bird native to North and South America.
Photo by Patrick Coin - image source
And since this stout is brewed right here in Guatemala, it's fitting that they would name it after our lovely Zanate, lol.
Zanates are kind of like a crop pest, Like a crow.
What's this?
A copy of the BEER BIBLE by Jeff Alworth, how convenient!
Let's see if they have anything on Stouts.
Maybe we can turn this into an educational experience.
Ah! here we go!
Porters and Stouts
Let's start with a little history
Origin of the Porter was developed in London in the 18th century. Now there was other beer at the time, which was basically Ale and brown beer. These were sent out from the brewers very young called Milds, and matured by the dealer. They called aged beer Stale, which probably didn't have the same connotation that it does today.
Porter, on the other hand, was the first beer to be aged by the brewery and when delivered to the pub, could be consumed immediately. It also came with a few technological advances, like the use of the thermometer, the hydrometer and the storing of beer in large 22 foot tall vats. In fact, there is a story in here about and accident that took place in 1814 in the Horse Shoe Brewery in London, when one of the wooden vats burst causing a chain reaction and sending over 300,000 of beer gushing out of the brewery through the back walls and into a neighboring slum called St Giles Rookery. 8 People were killed that day.
As porters increased in popularity, more brewers across England started experimenting and tweaking recipes. When they tried to make a porter with higher alcohol content, or stouter, the stout porter was born.
Imperial Stout
Now because these new styles of beer were being shipped all over the world, they eventually got to Russia. Porters were brewed strong, Stouts even stronger, and a particularly strong kind of stout was sent to Russia to satisfy the tastes of the Imperial court of Catherine the Great.
See? Who said you can't get drunk and smart at the same time?
The Mrs just came back with the grocery bags, so today's lesson is coming to an end.
Plus we're out of stout!
So I guess that's øl she wrote boys.
Have a lovely and productive week my dear fellow #beer lovers!
See you next #beersaturday!