Smoked Porter

Smoked porter During the Middle Ages, and later, up until the end of the Industrial Revolution, virtually all beers were more or less “smoked”. This is due to the fact that both the process of malting the barley (or other types of grain) and the brewing itself were achieved by an actual fire, fire that released a significant amount of smoke. It gave the beers the characteristic aroma and taste of smoke. After the introduction of propane gas, electricity or other modern means to the malting and the brewing process, fire became unnecessary for the purpose of brewing and its characteristic taste and aroma gradually disappeared and was forgotten. Today it is considered exotic to use intentionally smoked malts to achieve this effect, and such ales are honored and respected among beer enthusiasts around the world.