HB&B Blog — Porter

The Beer Lover's Table: Thai-Style Peanut Curry with Soy-Seared Tofu and Newbarns Brewery Deluxe Lagered Porter

Beer Lover's Table Claire Bullen Newbarns Porter Scotland

The Beer Lover's Table: Thai-Style Peanut Curry with Soy-Seared Tofu and Newbarns Brewery Deluxe Lagered Porter

The clock going back happens every year, but the speed at which night encroaches still comes as a shock. Dark at 5? Dark at 4:30? Yes, and it will get worse. But I’ve found a bright side: With every minute of daylight that’s devoured, so my desire for dark beer ratchets up. Newbarns Brewery’s Deluxe Lagered Porter – a lower-strength Baltic porter by any other name – feels just right for this annual descent, so right that it hardly feels like a loss at all. Made with heritage Chevallier malt, this beer is roasty and robust, but without heaviness – aromas...

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Fundamentals #70 — Boxcar English Porter

Boxcar Brew Co East London Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Porter

Fundamentals #70 — Boxcar English Porter

It’s fun to watch Boxcar’s head Brewer Sam Dickison work. He exudes a zen-like calm, even when his situation becomes a little more stressful. Arriving at the taproom one Friday early in 2020, I witnessed Sam under slightly more duress than usual. He was brewing with an experimental dark malt from Simpson’s, one of the UK’s largest and most well-regarded malt producers. Called Roast 200, it’s meant to produce a beer deep brown in colour, full of roasted coffee flavours and aromas, but the brew was taking a bit longer than it should. Malt is in a fascinating place at...

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Fundamentals #15: Wiper and True Plum Pudding Porter

Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Porter Wiper & True

Fundamentals #15: Wiper and True Plum Pudding Porter

Finally, it’s December. It’s time to do away with restraint and to banish sensibly measured portions. The season of indulgence is here. Stock your larders with mince pies and hefty slabs of stollen – not forgetting the brandy cream of course – and make sure there’s a few measures of pâté in the fridge just in case. It’s time to build up that all-important layer of winter blubber to make these colder months vaguely bearable. See you in January, toes. It’s also the perfect time to break out some stronger, darker and more decadent beers. If you’re anything like me...

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Fundamentals #2 – The Kernel India Double Porter Citra Ella

Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Porter The Kernel

Fundamentals #2 – The Kernel India Double Porter Citra Ella

When it comes to darker beers such as stout or porter, it would be obvious to focus on the ingredient that almost always provides them with most of their flavour: malt. This India Double Porter from South London’s The Kernel is no exception. Its malt profile of bitter dark chocolate and stone fruit laden roasted coffee is most certainly the most prominent element of this particular beer. However, this is The Kernel we’re talking about here and in a typical break from the traditions that inspired this beer, it has been hopped with two pungent new world hop varieties. North...

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