The Irish seem to have a lock on stouts, at least in the popular mind. Guinness, for sure, along with Murphy’s and Beamish. Dry stout, the prevalent Irish style, which may be the original variation on porter, is not the only approach. Across the Irish Channel, and in some far-flung locations, stout is different.

Nothing is quite as different as sweet stout, England’s dark answer to the milkshake. Mackeson, the acknowledged classic of the style, appeared early in this century and appears to remain unchanged. Unlike Irish stouts, which are brewed to attenuate thoroughly and finish very dry, Mackeson aims for a lush, rich finish and a high terminal gravity. The brewery achieves this by adding lactose (milk sugar) in the kettle. Unlike the sugars from malt (primarily maltose), cane (sucrose), or corn (dextrose), lactose is unfermentable by ordinary yeast and remains in the finished beer.

Mackeson apparently brews two versions of its stout, with the export market getting the best of the deal. The export beer is brewed to an original gravity of about 1.059; the home version’s range is more moderate, about 1.042. Michael Jackson reports on a milk stout similar to the latter profile brewed on the island of Malta by Farsons.

Beers such as Mackeson and Farsons are variously known as sweet stouts, milk stouts, and cream stouts. The finish is very sweet indeed because of the residual sugar. Mackeson especially retains a great deal of mouthfeel and body because it is not filtered.

Yet another approach to a rich finish is to add proteins, usually by adding flaked oats to the grist. Jackson states that oats were originally added for perceived nutritional value, but I assume that economics played a role. Oats are more abundant and cheaper than malted barley, and the mechanics of using flaked grains are much simpler than Jackson seems to realize.

Oatmeal stouts had disappeared until Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery revived the style in 1980 under the urging of Seattle importer Charles Finkel of Merchant du Vin. Other English brewers, including Young and Co.’s Brewery PLC of London, have joined in. Oatmeal stout seems to have a special panache among consumers (perhaps it’s that “nutritional” thing again), and a fair number of American brewpubs and microbreweries brew the style.

A small addition of oats to the grist is not enough to create a noticeable effect, although it does allow a brewer to call the beer an oatmeal stout. At about 10 percent of the total grist, one would expect to see a significant change in the beer’s character.

Flaked oats and, for that matter, flaked barley contribute to a rich mouthfeel and a thick, creamy head. Balanced with the burnt edge of roasted malt and the bitterness of hops, stouts like these are luscious, creamy counterparts to the very dry Irish style.

Throughout the 19th century some English breweries developed a large export industry, sending their beer down to the sea in ships. Much of the trade was on the Baltic in areas then part of the Russian Empire, now the free nations of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. For some reason (those long, cold nights?) the Baltic customers demanded stout, and they wanted it rich, dark, and very strong.

Beers of this style became known as imperial stouts (because they were shipped to the Russian Empire). The undisputed classic, Courage’s Imperial Russian Stout, still reigns today. It’s brewed to an eye-popping 1.102 OG, with an alcohol content hovering around 10 percent by volume. Very high gravity beers such as this, especially those with a very high malt fraction, develop a profound fruitiness during fermentation. Courage’s beer is brewed from pilsner, pale ale, amber, and black malts, with an addition of invert sugar in the kettle.

Survivals and revivals of the style appear in the former British market, the Baltic region, where they are known as porters. Although not brewed to the monster level of Courage, they are far stronger than the porters of the West. Finland’s Koff Porter, for example, begins at 1.068 and is properly top fermented.

Back in England we find another revival, this one of imperial stouts. Samuel Smith introduced its version during the 1980s, again in response to a demand from the American market. It is a delicious beer, brewed with pale ale and caramel malts, roasted barley, and kettle sugar, to 1.072.

Yakima’s Bert Grant introduced the Pacific Northwest to the style in the early 1980s. After a request from Courage Ltd., he dropped “Russian” from the name (now Grant’s Imperial Stout) and the OG dropped from 1.080 to 1.070, still quite a respectable brew. It remains one of the brewery’s finest beers (especially on draft) and a real treat on a cool evening. Grant spent years in the hop business and retains a real affection for them. One of his beer’s charms is that the bitterness units match the gravity (70!). Definitely not a wimpy beer.

These “other” stouts must be distinguished from the dry, Irish style. Except for the bottled export version, Irish stouts are of moderate gravity (around 1.040 to 1.045), with significant roastiness and a decidedly dry finish, although the use of raw barley and a nitrogen dispense add an element of creaminess.

Sweet (milk) stouts are a similar color (very dark brown to black) but otherwise very different. Bittering levels are way down, to better allow the distinct sweetness of residual sugars to dominate. Low-alpha-acid British hops, such as Fuggle and Goldings, are a good choice. The flavor of roasted malts is likewise subdued. Alcohol content is medium to moderately high. The beers are brewed from ale malts (pale and mild), caramel malts (very dark), and chocolate malt (not black). Along with the lactose, brewer’s caramel is added for flavor and color. 

Oatmeal stouts are less sweet, although full of mouthfeel and body. Bitterness and roasted flavor is more pronounced than in cream stouts but not as apparent as in dry stouts. Oatmeal stouts are usually rich, silky, and satiating. Original gravities are in the “normal,” moderate range (about 1.045). Other than the oats, the grists can be built from a wide range of malts (pale ale, pilsner, caramel) and with a significant portion of chocolate or black malt, or roasted barley. Any of a wide range of hops can be used.

Imperial stouts are big — no, huge —  beers, very dark, very rich, and very strong. Not the king of beers but the emperor. Minimum gravity around 1.070, but the sky (or the yeast’s tolerance for alcohol) is the limit. In many ways these beers are closer to barleywines than to the other stouts, estery, perhaps winey: a perfect breakfast treat, in other words.

It’s difficult to brew all-malt beers to this gravity, and sugar (or honey, in Grant’s Imperial Stout) is entirely appropriate, a good opportunity to experiment with dark, raw sugars or perhaps molasses. Likewise, a good opportunity for lots of good ale malt and dark, sweet caramel malts. And an opportunity to use those super-alpha hops. The British demonstrate a preference for Target (about 10 percent to 12.5 percent alpha acid), but they have some new varieties like Admiral (11.5 to 14.5 percent!) that sound like the perfect choice. American varieties such as Nugget and Chinook are worth experimenting with as well.

Yeast choices for the “other” stouts should be fairly simple; almost any good, vigorous ale strain should work nicely. The Irish strains tend to have a noticeable diacetyl (buttery) contribution and ought to work as well as the dry in the sweet versions, but any number of other strains should be fine. Imperial stouts do not require any special ale strain, but the yeast must be alcohol tolerant (anything that could be used for a barleywine will work) and you must have a lot of it. As with barleywines, the best strategy seems to be to brew a beer of normal gravity as a starter and either pitch a quart of freshly fermenting beer into the wort or recover all the yeast from the ale and pitch that. In either case the wort must be thoroughly aerated; these yeast will need all the help they can get. In spite of the claims of some homebrewers, wine yeasts are not necessary for high-gravity beers, if care is taken.

Any of the stouts can be brewed successfully as extract/grain beers or all-grain. An all-grain imperial stout will require a lot of grain, but the original gravity can be boosted through the use of sugar in the kettle. As with barleywines, one of the most successful techniques is to eliminate the sparge and to simply boil all the sweet wort drawn out of the mash/lauter tun. The remaining sugars can be extracted by sparging and used for “small” beer, and might well make a decent dry or sweet stout of very moderate alcohol content.

 
Midnight Molasses Lithuanian Imperial Stout
(5 gallons, extract with specialty grains )
Courtesy of Al Korzonas

Al Korzonas, an experienced homebrewer from Illinois, brewed this late at night (and had to run out at midnight for the molasses — hence the name). He emphasizes the need for a huge starter for this beer. The starter was allowed to ferment out entirely before brewing so that all the yeast had flocculated to the bottom. The spent wort was decanted off and a pint of fresh wort added the day before brewing.

This allowed him to build a huge supply of yeast and get the yeast into high kraeusen at pitching time (with the fresh wort). Yet it didn’t force him to add the gallon of starter wort to his beer. He cautions that this beer (and all this yeast) requires an enormous amount of head space in the fermenter or a blow-off hose feeding into a very large container. It also sounds as though the beer should always be consumed while you’re sitting down.

Ingredients:

• 6.6 lbs. Northwestern Gold extract syrup
• 3.3 lbs. Northwestern Amber extract syrup
• 3.3 lbs. Northwestern Dark extract syrup
• 1 lb. cara-Munich malt
• 0.5 lb. Special B malt
• 0.5 lb. roasted malt
• 0.5 lb. chocolate malt
• 0.5 lb. roasted barley
• 1 cup Grandma’s Robust Flavor Molasses (at end of boil)
• 4.25 oz. Nugget hops (12% alpha acid), for 60 min.
• 2 oz. Northern Brewer hops (7% alpha acid), for 30 min.
• 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.2% alpha acid), for 15 min.
• 2 tsp. calcium carbonate in boil
• 1 gal. starter of Wyeast 1028 yeast (see note)
• 2/3 cup priming sugar

Step-By-Step:

Steep milled specialty grains in 2 gals. 155° F water for 30 minutes using a grain bag. After steeping rinse grains with 1 gal. water (165° to 175° F). Add extracts and calcium carbonate, adjust total wort volume to 6 gals., and bring to a boil. Add Nugget hops at beginning of boil. Boil 30 minutes and add Northern Brewer hops. Boil 15 minutes more and add East Kent Goldings hops. Continue boiling for 15 minutes longer, turn off heat, and add molasses. Cool wort to 70˚ F. Add yeast slurry.

Ferment completely at 70˚ F, rack to secondary, and hold for seven days before bottling. Prime with sugar and condition for at least four weeks at room temperature before sampling. Once beer is carbonated, move bottles to a cool storage area and sample periodically until beer is at peak flavor. This may take upwards of four months.

OG = 1.115
TG = 1.038


Oatmeal Stout
(5 gallons, all-grain)

Ingredients:

• 7 lbs. pale or mild ale malt
• 0.5 lb. roasted barley
• 0.5 lb. caramel malt, 40° to 60° Lovibond
• 1 lb. rolled oats
• 1.25 oz. Columbus hops (15% alpha acid), for 75 min.
• ale yeast

Step-By-Step:

Mash grains in 3.5 gals. of soft- to medium-hard water at 152° F for 90 minutes (iodine tests are tough with beer this dark, so allow the full time period). Sparge to 6 gals. and boil for 90 minutes. Add the hops after 15 minutes. Cool, aerate thoroughly, and pitch a 1 to 2 qts. starter of vigorous ale yeast. Follow normal fermentation procedures (I prefer open fermenters for the primary), rack to secondary when kraeusen falls (about four to five days), and allow beer to finish out (about seven to 10 more days). Follow your normal bottling or kegging procedure.

OG = 1.052
FG = 1.012