The famous true story about London drowning in Porter.

Well, a small part of London at least.

This story bears repeating every few years. It's about the Great Porter Flood of 1814, and it testifies to the scale of Porter's popularity at the time.

Too Much of a Good Thing, by Dan Piepenbring (The Paris Review)

 ... I guess I can tell you a little about it: how it began at the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, where an enormous vat ruptured, unleashing more than a hundred thousand imperial gallons of beer ...

Earlier tonight, I enjoyed a Bob's Old 15-B Porter from NABC, the first one I'd consumed in a while. It was delicious, and reminded me of how much I enjoy the style. 20 years ago, we drank plenty of Porter.

When Michael "Beer Hunter" Jackson came to the Public House in 1994, the only full pint he drank was one filled with Sierra Nevada Porter, which we cherished at the time.

I'm on a quest to return to basics, and rediscover fundamentals that while not entirely lost, surely are undervalued in today's beer market.

As the weather cools, I'll be drinking more Porter.

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.

Office Hours preview for November 8: English Brown Ale and Porter.

Office Hours with the Publican take place tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Prost at the Public House.

We continue our autumn/winter tasting mandate of surveying Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style definitions, applying them to beers on the Public House's guest bottle list, comparing and contrasting, and trying to decide which ones, in the current time, need to be carried on a regular basis and which of them do not.

In essence, it is our aim:

(1) To acknowledge the greater availability of beginning-level craft beers and imports on metro area beer lists.

(2) To reduce our stock accordingly, allowing our constantly popular and rotating drafts to showcase styles, freeing resources and space to recast the bottle selection.

(3) To tilt the list more toward the newer generation of seasonally changing styles and labels. In short, more Mikkellers, fewer Sam Smiths.

We do all these things already, but haven't done the necessary culling over the years. Consequently, we're out of balance. Tonight, we'll start with Category 11 — English Brown Ale.

11A. Mild
11B. Southern English Brown
11C. Northern English Brown

Category 12 is Porter, and we'll delve into it, too, probably with Brown Porter, leaving Robust Porter and Baltic Porter for next week.

Here are the links to the BJCP's descriptions.

11. ENGLISH BROWN ALE

12. PORTER

Beer Event Watch: "Porters: A History of the Style," with the Publican at Liquor Barn Springhurst, Saturday, December 12.

From Drew Johnson, beer manager for Louisville's Liquor Barn. Apologies to those who went to the Irish Rover last night expecting to see me; something about well-laid plans going awry. I'll definitely be teaching the class described below.

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This Saturday, December 12th, from 2-4pm at Liquor Barn Springhurst we are
having Roger Baylor, owner of the New Albanian Brewing Company, here to do
a special tasting for you, our customers.

Roger will be teaching a class on: "Porters: A History of the Style." We will be sampling the New Albanian Old 15-B Porter as well as their new seasonal Solidarity.

Solidarity is a small batch Baltic Porter (8.5% abv). Liquor Barn was lucky enough to receive only one of five kegs distributed to Louisville. Once it is gone it will not be available until next fall!

In addition to the two NABC Porters, Roger has hand selected several other Porters to fit in with our category discussion. We will be tasting the following Porters in this progression:

Fuller's London Porter
New Albanian 15-B Porter
New Albanian Solidarity
Stone Smoked Porter
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Liquor Barn will be charging $5 for this class. Each cutomer will receive a 4oz sample of each beer as well as several cheese samples to cleanse your palate and some local Blue Dog Bread.

This tasting will take place in our educational center located in the front of the store. Space is limited, so do not miss out on this great opportunity. If you wish to pre-pay for your ticket please ask for a manager or a member of the beer department to ring you up. Hold on to your receipt, as it is your ticket to the tasting.

We will also have some New Albanian 1/2 gallon growlers on hand for people who wish to purchase any of the NABC beers on-tap. There will be a special discount for customers who attend the class.

Cheers!

Drew Johnson
Louisville Beer Manager
Liquor Barn