Tonight at Office Hours: Robust & Baltic Porter.

Tonight at Office Hours with the Publican (that's me), we resume our BJCP-oriented discussion of Porter.

Last Monday, there was time for English Brown Ale and Brown/English Porter, as well as our first ever session recording, which as I write is being rendered into a podcast.

As Eric and Ben search the Public House's bottled stocks for appropriate provisions, here are the BJCP descriptions for tonight's menu:

12B. Robust Porter
12C. Baltic Porter

Robust Porter samples will/should include Sierra Nevada, BBC Dark Star, Stone Smoked Porter and (perhaps) some Alaskan from the stash.

We used to have more examples of bottled Baltic Porter than we do now, but there should be enough for rock and roll tonight: Flying Dog Gonzo, Zwiec, Baltika, Sinebrychoff, and draft NABC Ancient Rage that I'll pack from the garage keg box at home.

I wrote the following passage in high summer, 2006. It summarizes my feelings about Baltic Porter, which is one of my personal faves.

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Some will suggest that Baltic Porter isn’t appropriate for the hot and sticky Ohio Valley summer, but my view is that any time of the year, different styles of beer work in different contexts.

While mowing the lawn? Well, I’ve never consumed beer while cutting grass, so I wouldn’t know. Perhaps Samichlaus isn’t the best choice for such an occasion.

Afterwards, following a spell of rest and regeneration in the air conditioning? It seems to me that once the heat and humidity have been removed from the equation, almost any beer has a chance of tasting good.

It’s all in the mind, anyway. To hell with tiki bars and palm fronds; think pebbly beaches with cool summer breezes, brick-laden seaports and trays of smoked eel and pickled herring.

At any rate, I’m a longtime of Baltic Porter precisely because the style is nebulous and all over the stylistic map. As the BJCP description indicates, English-style Porter and strong Stout may well have been the original impetus for dark beers brewed in these countries, but German lager brewing techniques have long since modified the plan, with results that vary from place to place an provide much tasting adventure.

BBC's Kick in the Baltic triumphs at the '08 GABF.

A hearty pat on the back (he'd prefer the rump) goes to Bluegrass Brewing Company's brewer of record at the original Shelbyville Road location.

Jerry Gnagy scored a gold medal at the recently concluded Great American Beer Festival for his Kick in the Baltic Porter, which last appeared at the Public House during the 2008 edition of Gravity Head and was tippled by the Publican on more than one occasion during its run.

It remains a favored beer style of mine, and Jerry's success has me thinking about reviving the NABC version, called Solidarity, which was last brewed too long ago. If we started lagering a batch soon, it'd be perfect for GH '09 (The Liver Olympics).

Here's a piece I wrote from a couple years back that goes into greater depth. When reading, be aware that several of the listed beers no longer are available through legal distribution channels in Indiana. They come, they go.

Baltic, Russian and Ukrainian bottled beer blast: Porter and more.