Porters are one of the oldest beer styles – IPAs, abbey tripels, and pilsners are all green by comparison. They are sometimes described as stout’s weaker and less well-known cousin, often associated with London and industrialization, and otherwise fairly difficult to define. In Tasting Beer, Randy Mosher wrote that “studying the history of porter is like staring into the multidimensional universe of theoretical cosmology, with multiple shifting parallel worlds constantly warping and shifting the flow of time.” Its history has also not been a straight line; the style nearly died and was revived in England during the 20th century. It’s safe to say there isn’t one prototypical example, but there are several that sit near the center of the scattershot chart.

The rest of today’s column is over on the Food Bloggers of Canada website.