Once upon a time in 1722,
The first Porter was brewed in London; yes, the English drink beer too.

It's a dark and creamy brew, rich in flavour and hue,
It's made with hops and brown barley, and some say a little bit of moo.

They say the Porter was named, after the men who carried the kegs,
These strong and mighty porters, with big muscles and bigger pecs.

Others say it was named for its robust and hearty taste,
A beer that could endure, and never go to waste.

So if you see a Porter on the menu, don't hesitate,
Give it a try, and you'll find it's truly great. 

Actually the Stout and the Porter have histories intertwined,
Stronger Porters were named "Stouts", made when drunk porters still whined.    

[Disclaimer: The Porter beer was indeed developed in the early eighteenth century. But poems have to rhyme, so we exercised our creative license and picked the year 1722.] 

With this age-inappropriate nursery rhyme, I trust you now understand what a Porter is and how its history related to that of the Stout beer. With a name like "Porter" you might guess they're a style of beer developed in England in the early 1700s. This style of beer was incredibly popular amongst the working class, and production spread across the Europe. Eventually, the word "Stout" was introduced to refer to the strength of the Porter - "Single Stout Porter", "Double Stout Porter" or "Triple Stout Porter". In fact, you could say that one famous Irish "stout" porter brewery became a household brand eclipsing English porter-brewing history. That would be the Guinness Extra Stout (which was once called something like "Extra Stout Porter"). In modern times, the words "Stout" and "Porter" tend to be used by breweries interchangeably to refer to this dark ale.

Due to the use of brown malt - with tons of caramelised sugars - Porters are famously known to have a nice note of roasted grains, chocolate and even coffee. Traditional recipes do not call for actual chocolate or coffee to be added – but certain brewers would add milk sugar (or lactose) into their stouts, which cannot be digested by beer yeast, thus giving the beer a subtle sweetness reminiscent of whole milk.

Today, we're reviewing Brewlander's "A Little Respect" Porter as part of their 2022 Christmas Advent Calendar. According to Brewlander, this Porter has luscious notes of coffee, cacao, vanilla and an "illusion" of bourbon barrel-aging.  

Let's give it a taste and see what they mean!

Brewlander "A Little Respect" Porter, 5.8% ABV – Review 

Colour: Espresso. 

Nose: Rich, aromatic and highly appetising.

Smooth and luscious initial aromas: we get forthcoming notes of espresso coffee and a strong caramel richness wrapped up in a buttery aroma that reminds you of freshly popped caramel popcorn. A minute or so of airing this opens up the aromas to give us some sweet oakiness from Jim Beam bourbon and more subdued hoppy bitterness (compared to the Guinness stout).  

Palate: Thick, roasty and moreish. Immediate notes of sweet Vietnamese robusta black coffee and dark chocolate take centre stage. 

This is followed by slightly herbal-accented Demarara rum notes, Chinese Pei Pa Koa (a liquorice-tasting traditional herbal syrup), grass jelly before turning towards Taiwanese brown sugar milk tea with tapioca pearls. 

Finish: The finish is moderately long with an enduring savoury caramel note of Brand's chicken essence and fading notes of A&W root beer float.

My Thoughts

This is really enjoyable. I hate to make comparisons, but Brewlander's "A Little Respect" is significantly more delicious than a bottled or canned Guinness (I hear that Guinness on tap in proper Irish pubs is a different story). I loved the fragrant notes of espresso. The sublime buttery notes of fresh popped corn is also really something I haven't experienced before.

There are quite a couple of American chocolate stouts or coffee stouts that I've tasted, but compared to them, Brewlander's Porter has a more restrained amount of sweetness that would be acceptable to my Asian parents and just a very slight bitterness to make this great for newer Stout / Porter drinkers. Here's one you'll love, mom, dad, sis and bro.

 @CharsiuCharlie