There is probably no style of beer more associated with Ireland than Irish Stout.  While this beer had its origins in England, teh world over most people would assume that it is Irish through and through.

To-day we are tasting a (relatively) new craft brewed Irish stout – 12^th Abbey Raven Stout.

Black is the New Black –

Stout as a style is relatively loosely defined.  Michael Lewis defines the style as follows – ‘a stout is a black beer that is called “stout” by the person who brewed it.’  Not very helpful beyond helping us understand the colour to expect in this beer.

The reason for this inexactitude when it comes to the stout beer style is that there are so many sub-styles of stout that coming up with a definition that covers all of the features of the sub-styles, while not excluding any sub-styles, is virtually impossible – beyond simply describing the beer as a black beer.

Stout grew out of porter.  Popular understanding regarding porter is that this style grew from an idea developed by a brewery to make serving beer more convenient.  At the time, many pubs in London would serve a blend of beers from different casks within their outlet – the beer was described as ‘two threads’ or ‘three threads’ depending on the number of beers that went into the blend.  The idea behind porter was to develop a beer that could be served in a single pour, but deliver similar character to a two- or three- thread beer.

Stout, at this time, was a strong version of a dark beer – the ‘stout’ referring to the strength in alcohol terms of the beer.

Among people interested in beer, there are numerous arguments, discussions, exchanges and so on about what the true definition and true origins of these styles are.  The source of this consternation is probably the fact that the styles have evolved so much over the years.  ‘Stout’ can no longer be considered to be exclusively a strong beer – the norm for mainstream stouts in Ireland is 4.1% to 4.3% a.b.v.  Similarly, the type of malt used in porter and stout would have varied from black malts to brown malts – the beer would not have always had the ‘pitch black’ presentation that one would associate with the current style.

Over time, as happens with many popular styles, many sub-styles have been brewed.  Oatmeal stout, Chocolate stout, Imperial stout, Coffee stout, dry stout, milk stout are just a few of the examples.  Alcohol by volume can range from below 3% up to above 12%.  Ingredients can equally be as varied.  Hence, colour is the ‘equaliser’ just as hop character would be the single consistent feature of India Pale Ales.

Colour in beer comes from the malts used.  With the development of craft breweries, malsters are making available to breweries a range of dark malts that can be used in brewing stouts.  Chocolate malt, roast malt and black (or patent) malt are the malts on the darker end of the spectrum – delivering plain chocolate, espresso coffee and sometimes liquorice flavours, as well as the potential for smoky character.  In some cases, brewers use roast barley – unmalted.  The result is a slightly more acrid roast bitterness.  Crystal malts tend not to give as much black colour as their darker cousins, but can impart sweetness and biscuit character to balance the flavours from the darker malts.  Brown malt, not readily available just a couple of decades ago, can now be obtained, and allows breweries to throw back to the original times when porters and stouts were first introduced.

Dark malts provide their own form of bitterness – a roast, smoky style of bitterness.  While comparable by most people tasting, this bitterness in the beer is distinct from the bitterness to which most people refer when they are talking about the level of IBU’s (International Bitterness Units) in beer.  IBU’s come from the use of hops in the early stages of the boil in beer.  With stouts, the norm is for there to be a reasonable amount of bitterness – typically above 30, and often between 40 and 60 bitterness units.  This compares with Budweiser at about 8 to 10 or mainstream continental lagers around the 20 mark.

12^th Abbey Raven Stout –

Beer Style                           -  Irish Stout

Alcohol by Volume          -  4.2% a.b.v.

Brewed by                          -  Under Contract for 12^th Abbey Brewing Company and Stephen Dillon

Brewed in                           -  County Meath, Ireland.

 

Stephen Dillon has been incredibly interested and supportive of craft beers for the last decade.  Starting out in retail, he has been instrumental in converting a number of people to craft beers by arranging beer talks over the last number of years through his beer club.  Stephen’s latest foray in craft beer is the development of the 12^th Abbey Brewing Company – a new venture dedicated to developing and marketing a range of new Irish craft beers.

These beers are contract brewed for 12^th Abbey – 12^th Abbey itself does not own its own brewery.  For some people, they may find this unusual.  However, in reality, a number of American craft brewers build their entire business on contract brewing.  The key to making contract brewing a success is the involvement of the owner of the beer and the recipe – and Stephen takes a hands-on role with his contract brewing partners when it comes to the brewing of his beers.

Raven Stout is one of 12^th Abbey’s first three beers (the others being ‘Altered Amber’ and 12^th Abbey Irish Pale Ale).  On the pour, true to the essence of the stout style, Raven Stout pours with a pitch black colour and a tan coloured head.  Immediately on the nose, the character of the dark malts sings through – smokiness combining with espresso coffee.  On the palate, this dark malt character continues – with rich espresso, plain chocolate, a suggestion of milk chocolate, roast coffee and background soft toffee and digestive biscuit sweetness all combining to deliver a full malt character.  Raven Stout is balanced with a significant amount of hop bittering from Magnum hops – reported with a bittering level of 60 IBU’s.  It is a credit to the beer that this level of bitterness is achieved without any suggestion of the beer being out of balance.  The malt character provides a sufficient backbone to the beers to support this hop character.

12^th Abbey Raven Stout hearkens back to the flavours that many true lovers of stout lament have been lost over time from mainstream stouts.  It is a truly delicious example of the style.  If you enjoy stout, and and want to taste a stout that delivers the flavours that your grandfather might have reminisced about, you could definitely do yourself a favour by tasting a bottle of 12^th Abbey Raven Stout

Beer Available In –

Jus De Vine Off-Licence, Portmarnock, Dublin

Egan's Food and Wine, Portlaoise, Co. Laoise

Mother Reillys, Harolds Cross, Dublin

Joe Smith Bar, Navan, County Meath

The Hole in the Wall, Blackhorse Ave, Dublin 3

Next Door, Meath St, Dublin

Carry Out, Tyrellstown, Dublin 15

Whelans Wexford St, Dublin 2

Next Door, Navan, County Meath

Deveneys, Rathmines, Dublin

The Comet, Santry, Dublin

The Lord Mayor Pub and Off-Licence, Swords, County Dublin

McCabe's Off-Licence, Blackrock, County Dublin

Drinks Store, Manor St, Dublin 1

Callans Off-licence, Dundalk, County Louth

The Wine Shop, Perrystown, Dublin

Eurospar, Dalkey, County Dublin

Probus Wines, Fenian Street, Dublin 2.

The Malthouse, Trim, County Meath

Spar, Rathoath, County Meath

The House Restaurant, Main Street, Howth, County Dublin

McHughs O/L, Kilbarrack, Dublin

Worldwide Wines, Dunmore Rd, Waterford

Dicey Reilly's Bar and Off-Licence, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

Castle Street Off-Licence, Tralee, Co. Kerry

The Abbott Ale House, Devonshire Street, Cork

Number 21 Off-Licence, Coburg Street, Cork

Cooper's Off-Licence, Abbey Street, Cahir, County Tipperary

Number 21 Off-Licence, Ballinacurra, Midleton, Cork

Matson's Inns, Douglas, Cork

Shannon Knights, Next Door, Skycourt, Shannon, Co Clare

Tom Ryan's Bar, Waterford

Baggot Street Wines, Baggot Street, 17 Upper Baggot Street

Supervalu, Enfield, County Meath

Griffins Londis, KCR, Terenure Road West, Terenure, Dublin 6W

Londis, Main Street, Kilbeggan, County Westmeath

P. McCormach and Sons, Lower Mountown Road, Glenageary, Dublin

Eddie Rockets, Dundrum Shopping Centre