Serve in a nonic pint at 8-12 °C
What it tastes like
Porter was London's everyday beer in the 1700s, named for the street and river porters who drank it. The modern English brown porter is the gentler descendant of that beer: dark brown, moderate in strength and built around chocolate and caramel rather than sharp roast.
Take a sip and you should find milk chocolate, toffee, a little nuttiness and some bready malt. English yeast adds a light fruitiness, a hint of plum or pear. Bitterness is moderate and earthy from English hops, there to keep it dry enough for a second pint. Roast is a whisper. If it tastes like coffee grounds, it has wandered into stout or robust porter.
The point of the style is balance at a sensible strength, usually 4.5 to 6 percent. It is the dark beer you can drink through a long conversation without your palate getting tired. Brewed well, it shows how much flavour a brewer can draw from malt without leaning on alcohol or hops.
Style profile
- Look
- Light to dark brown, often with red highlights. Clear. A creamy, off-white to light tan head with decent staying power.
- Aroma and flavour
- Milk chocolate, caramel, toast and a little nut. Low roast. Gentle English yeast fruit. Earthy, floral hop in the background, never citrus.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium-light to medium body, moderate carbonation. Soft and rounded, finishing fairly dry with a hint of cocoa.
- Ingredients
- English pale ale malt, brown and crystal malts, a little chocolate malt. Fuggle or East Kent Goldings. English ale yeast. Softer water suits it better than very hard borewell water.
In India
Of all the porters, this is the one that makes sense across most of the Indian year. It is moderate in strength, not heavy, and it does well a few degrees warmer than a lager, which is kind to anyone whose fridge is already full. In the monsoon it is close to perfect, with pakoras by the window. Several brewpubs in Bengaluru and Pune pour one, often as a rotating dark tap, and some lean towards flavoured versions with coffee, vanilla or chai.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Onion and potato pakoras with green chutneyFried batter loves a malty beer, and the gentle bitterness cleans the oil from your palate.
- Kolkata-style mutton koshaCaramelised onion and slow-browned meat echo the toffee and chocolate in the malt.
- Mushroom and pepper fry, Kerala styleEarthy mushrooms and black pepper sit beside the beer's nutty, earthy hop notes.
- Mysore pakGhee and roasted gram flour meet caramel malt, and the dry finish stops it getting too sweet.
Brewed in India
- English Porter, Toit Beer Co., Bengaluru source
- Brown Porter, Independence Brewing Company, Pune source
- Porter, Biergarten Brewery and Kitchen, Bengaluru source
Want the long read? Porter