Porter

Denver’s River North is winning international awards and a strong reputation for its deep, dark, malt-forward beers. Here, owner Matt Hess and head brewer Matt Malloy share the thinking and process behind them. As told to Ryan Pachmayer.

Twentieth-century U.S. lager breweries would often use colorants—such as a malt-based product called Porterine—to give their pale beers a darker or even porter-like appearance. Here’s how to make your own.

From award-winning homebrewer Annie Johnson, this partial-mash recipe for a lightweight porter—at 3.5 percent ABV—demonstrates how you can pack plenty of malt flavor into a low-strength beer.

Rich in malt flavor yet light in strength and easy to drink, lower-ABV stouts, porters, and other dark beers represent a wide-open playground for brewers at any level.

From Burial in Asheville, North Carolina, here’s a recipe for the hop-forward porter that thrilled our blind-review panel. As an internal brewery favorite, this beer is, cofounder Doug Reiser says, “exactly what we hope comes back into style.”

Looking for weekend grilling ideas? From our deep Cooking with Beer archive: You don’t need a smoker for this slam-dunk rib recipe—but you can include a smoked porter, if you want.

At San Francisco’s Bartlett Hall brewpub, head brewer Nick Mamere has built an award-winning program that includes this porter—winner of GABF silver in 2019, gold in 2022, and one of our Best 20 Beers in 2023.

Toby McKenzie, owner and brewer at RedWillow Brewery in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, shares this beefed-up version of their Heritage Porter, inspired by 19th-century recipes. Its layered malt bill gets added complexity from malt made from Chevallier, a landrace barley variety.

This is the recipe for one of several rotating porters that North Carolina’s Incendiary likes to make and keep on tap for its customers—but this is the one that took home gold from the 2023 World Beer Cup.

Last year was a great one for dark beers from Incendiary in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While their Schwarzbier earned its spot on our list of Best 20 Beers in 2023, this porter also nabbed gold at the World Beer Cup. So, what makes it tick?

Much-awarded and much-acclaimed, from Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland, Ohio, here is a homebrew-scale recipe for the robust yet smooth-drinking American porter that has inspired many others.

In looking for insights on brewing a great porter in the modern American style, Josh Weikert talks to Cleveland’s Great Lakes about the inner workings of the beloved and enduring Edmund Fitzgerald.

There are many shades of black, and there are many stripes of porter and stout. If Guinness Draught remains widely popular yet barrel-aged beasts are what excite the geeks today, what do the brewers themselves prefer? Here are five pro picks.

From Hammer & Stich Brewing in Portland, Oregon, comes this classically shaped American porter balancing darker malts with Pacific Northwest hops.

Adjuncts and oak are nothing new to the world’s darkest beers, whose twists and turns over the past three centuries tell a story of constant—and ongoing—reinvention.

Developed by Keith Villa, this recipe for a nonalcoholic peanut butter–flavored porter provides a significant dose of THC from dry-hopping with cannabis.

The team at Métier Brewing in Seattle describes Black Stripe as “a smooth, medium-bodied porter with dark chocolate flavors and hints of coconut.”

From deceptively easy-drinking to weighty and ponderous, the comforts of these dark delights run the gamut. Here, five pro brewers share their favorites.

Equally fit for a long winter or backyard barbecues, this recipe balances mellow cherrywood-smoked malt with a robust porter foundation.

We are visual creatures—but color is deceptive. Randy Mosher, author of Tasting Beer, shares insights to help us widen our stout vocabulary.