Brewing Porters and Stouts: Origins, History, and 60 Recipes for Brewing Them at Home Today

Foster provides a very solid historical background for these two styles, taking time to explain the roles played by the industry conditions, market trends, and scientific advancements of the day. He meticulously details the differences between the various sub-styles of stout and porter from a recipe and methodology standpoint, while pointing the reader to (relatively) common contemporary commercial examples where possible. There are numerous recipes provided, ranging from full extract to full mash, with clear instructions that should be accessible to homebrewers of all experience levels. Foster appears somewhat apologetic for the part he's played in introducing such a sprawling set of rigid style requirements, and reveals that his own philosophy is much closer to "if it tastes good, keep brewing it". He's also the first to point out when a favorite commercial example for a given style doesn't even meet that style's guidelines.I read his pale ale book first, and the much more recent update to Stouts and Porters is quite evident. His exposition and recipes assume the reader has access to a significantly greater variety of both beer ingredients and professionally brewed examples (hopefully this is true in most cases). I was particularly interested in his discussion of the renewed interest in producing approximations to historical brown malt, as opposed to crystal or biscuit. After trying traditional brown malt in several recipes, I feel that brown malt does indeed provide a great way to add complexity to your malt bill without producing overly bready flavors.Overall, this remains one of my favorite style series books of the half-dozen or so that I've read. As always, these books are about historical perspective on style ingredients and procedures. I find them very useful as guides to authenticity of ingredients, and to provide the occasional recipe inspiration. If you are looking to actually learn how to brew at home, I would suggest starting with the standards by Palmer, Noonan, Daniels, and of course, Papazian.Cheers!

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. There are two parts to it: the history of the porter beers and recipes for making a variety of them. The book is well written and held my interest. The recipes are easy to follow and provide enough information so that even a beginning home brewer should have no problem trying them out. I also enjoyed the references to available craft beers in the book and am making an effort to try as many of them as possible. I might even visit the brew pub the author helps at. :-)The only thing this book lacks is a glossary. The author uses, without any attempt to define, a number of terms related to the science of beer brewing. I found it necessary on several occasions to stop reading and jump onto the internet to figure out what terms mean. (Even though I have been brewing at home for a number of years). A glossary with the definitions of those terms and parameters specifically related to the process of brewing would make this a perfect five-star book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect out if this book. But now I can say, I’m glad I read it. It’s a very easy and comprehensive read geared toward the intermediate and advanced brewer. The history lesson is also quite informative. I enjoyed it very much.

You will not regret spending money on this book. There are several homebrewing books I've purchase that I wish I could return but this is not one of them.The author gives historical facts laced heavily with his own opinions which he points out are his opinions. He is honest when he injects his opinion and uses solid common sense along with facts to debunk several commonly believed myths about the styles.The book offers up best ingredients per style with several recipes tested by the author. I used this information to tweak a porter I brew every year and it's a definate improvement.

I've been reading a lot of brewing books lately, including a few based on styles, and some info is getting to be redundant, especially history. But this book is well written and conversational in tone and includes the authors experience at home brewing.

This was a nice easy reading book that explores the origins of the porter and its evolution to stouthood. It was a valuable references for a presentation that I gave to our local homebrew club. I will also revert back to it when I start brewing some stouts to age down the line. It would be a nice addition to ones homebrew reference library. Cheers.

I have Terry's first book on Porter and wished for more information on this style. I have also notice that old time Porters and Stout recipes were almost interchangeable as though the naming of your beer as Stout or Porter was more of a marketing thing. Well, this book is much more in depth about Porters and Stouts, their origins and, perhaps a better way to distinguish between the two styles. A great read and I thought that the inclusion of BU/GU information for each style/sub-style was extremely helpful. A book I will keep and use.

Love this book! It give the home brewer great insight on both brewing technique and the history behind Stouts and Porters. A great read for those looking for more substance in developing your own brew.

This book has a table of contents with 5 chapters without details and no index. Very difficult to find what we are looking for.There are miscalculations in the recipes. Very little explanation for brewing recipes

Livro com material riquíssimo, contendo a história destes estilos e suas diferenças, ingredientes, processos e receitas.

Un must per chi si volesse cimentare nella produzione di stouts. Tante ricette di tanti stili della categoria delle stout e porter.

This is a pretty good book.The first two chapters go into the history and definitions of porters and stouts in great detail. Maybe a bit too much detail. However, this attention to detail continues throughout the book and really comes into it's own in chapters 3 and 4, which give information on raw materials and other ingredients. The recipe election is broad, though do not expect a detailed guide on how to brew. The book assumes the reader already has some basic experience with (home)brewing.Overall, worth a read.

This was a very insightful book regarding porters and stout. For the first read I found it a little confusing with some of the beer terms. However after reading another book regarding beers as a whole which explains a lot more, this book became a breeze to read on the second go.Only down side with the book would be the constant writing of OF reading of the malts