Baltic Porter
Baltic porter: a strong, smooth, dark porter of the Baltic Sea countries, often lagered, with dried fruit and roast but no burn. Strength, bitterness, glass and classic examples.
- Family
- Lager
- Strength
- 6.5–9.5% ABV
- Bitterness
- 20–40 IBU
- Colour scale
- 17–30 SRM (33–59 EBC)
- Glass
- Nonic pint
- Serve at
- 7–10 °C
A Baltic porter pours dark reddish copper to deep brown, rarely quite black, under a thick tan head. It smells and tastes of rich malt, caramel, toffee, nuts, liquorice, with dried fruit, plums, raisins, cherries, and a smooth roast of dark chocolate or coffee that never turns burnt. The bitterness stays moderate. It feels full and smooth, and its 6.5–9.5% alcohol warms quietly, which makes it easy to drink for its strength.
Where it comes from
When English porters and stouts stopped reaching the Baltic in the early 1800s, brewers in the countries around the sea made their own. They were top-fermented at first; many breweries later switched them to lager yeast with the rest of their production. The name Baltic porter dates only from the 1990s and covers a family of regional beers, from Finland and Sweden to Poland and the Baltic states.
In Helsinki, Sinebrychoff has brewed its porter since 1957, a 7.2% dark beer, top-fermented; the BJCP lists it among the style’s examples. In Sweden, Carnegie Porter traces itself to porter brewing in Gothenburg in 1817, and Carlsberg Sverige sells it as a vintage beer that improves in the cellar.
How to serve it
Pour it at 7–10 °C into a nonic pint. It goes with prime rib, an aged Gouda or s’mores.
Next to its neighbours
It has the body and smooth malt of a doppelbock, the dark malt of an English porter and the fruit and warmth of an old ale. It is much less roasted, and usually weaker, than an imperial stout.
Baltic Porter in numbers
- Classic examples
- Sinebrychoff, Carlsberg Sverige (Pripps, Carnegie), Żywiec, Okocim, Browar Fortuna, Browar Ciechan, Browar Amber, Aldaris
- Original gravity
- 1.060–1.090
- Final gravity
- 1.016–1.024
- Food
- Prime rib; aged Gouda; s'mores
- Classic examples
- Sinebrychoff Porter (KOFF Porter); Baltika No. 6 Porter; Okocim Porter; Żywiec Porter; Aldaris Mežpils Porteris; Devils Backbone Danzig
- BJCP style
- 9C Baltic Porter
Sources
Checked .
- 9C. Baltic Porter, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
- Baltic-Style Porter — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association
- KOFF Porter — Sinebrychoff
- Carnegie Porter — Carlsberg Group
