Adv Cicerones compare American Porter vs. English Porter

In this episode of the Beer Scholar "Classic Style Side-By-Side" series Advanced Cicerones Chris Cohen & Scott Fielder sit down to taste and discuss the differences between classic BJCP commercial examples of American Porter and English Porter. We went with the OG Pacific Northwest Deschutes Black Butte Porter vs. the classic English Samuel Smith Tadcaster Taddy Porter. These are both widely available around the world, so you can to do this one at home.

These two beers are very useful to compare because they feature all the common differences between the American & English brewing cultures. Americans tend to take styles from other cultures, especially the English, and amp up the flavors, especially hop bitterness and in this case burnt malt roastiness, while also using a cleaner fermenting yeast. English ales, on the other hand, tend to be more well balanced and have less punchy flavor, in particular they're almost never as bitter as similar American ales. English ales almost always feature notable fruity yeast esters that cleaner fermenting American ales do not. In this case, the Tadcaster Porter is more balanced, less bitter, less roasty, and fruitier than the American Black Butte. The Black Butte is significantly more bitter and features lots of American dank & piney hop flavor, burnt roastiness, and a clean fermentation character low in fruity esters. Just as you'd expect!

Remember, NEVER rely on visual cues in a blind tasting! Practice and get familiar with these, do your reps! 💪🍺 Good luck!

The Beer Scholar "Classic Style Side-By-Side" series, we compare similar classic styles, discuss them, & provide tips for how to pick them apart in a blind tasting. This is all about helping you pass the Certified & Advanced Cicerone exams. Tasting blind is HARD, we're here to help!

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