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Visai nesenai pats sau atradau Baltic Porters alaus stilių, apie kurį nežino tik Lietuvoje:) Tuo tarpu tirdamas pamėgto Niujorko hangouto Blind Tiger Ale House neišsemiamą asortimentą, netikėtai atradau net tris Perkūno vardu pavadintus alus!

Heavyweight Perkuno’s Hammer Imperial Porter

(aged one year+): the renowned big and chewy Baltic porter from Heavyweight brewed in collaboration with Lew Bryson…. The grist consists of lots of Munich malt and and some chocolate and other specialy malts; a Bavarian yeast is used to create this “train wreck between a doublebock and an Imperial stout’”. The brew is appropriately named after Perkuno, the angry thunder god in Baltic mythology, who used his hefty hammer to control the weather & unruly mortals. (originally 8.0% ABV)

Heavyweight Perkuno’s Hammer Imperial Porter w/ treacle: stored at 50 degrees in our cask room, this ale is pumped from a true firkin and, like authentic cask-conditioned ales, is less carbonated than normal draught beers yet more flavorful and complex than most. Fresh from Heavyweight Brewing, this is a special cask-conditioned version of the “Perkuno” draught—a big, chewy, Polish-style porter brewed with Munich and chocolate malts and German hops; bottom-fermented and lagered for four week… Tom added a touch of black treacle (unrefined English molasses) for an interesting twist on the original recipe. (8.2%+)

Heavyweight Perkuno’s Hammer Imperial Porter: the renowned big and chewy Baltic porter from Tom Baker and Heavyweight Brewing Company brewed in collaboration with Lew Bryson…. The grist consists of lots of Munich malt, some chocolate and other specialy malts; a Bavarian yeast is used to create this “train wreck between a doublebock & an Imperial stout’”. The brew is named after Perkuno, the angry thunder god in Baltic mythology, who used his hefty hammer to control the weather & unruly mortals. (8.2% ABV)

Įdomu, kad baltams ir čia nepavyksta pabėgti nuo caro (Imperial Porter Stout anais laikais britai virė Rusijos carui). Štai ką rašo alaus autorius Lew Bryson:

Baltic porter is actually a thriving style in eastern Europe. From Sweden around through Russia and the Baltic republics, in Poland and Germany and over to Denmark, these big, malty, mainly lager-brewed beers go by the name of "porter". They run from 6.0% abv all the way up to 9.3%. I've often characterized them as tasting like the head-on collision of a doublebock and an imperial stout.

They are probably the locally brewed descendants of British-brewed Russian Imperial Stouts; Michael Jackson theorizes in his "New World Guide to Beer" that Imperial stouts were originally labeled as "porter".

A UK beer blog BoakAndBailey has posted a round-up of Baltic Porters. I left a comment, but decided to post it here as well.

Funnily enough nobody in Lithuania is probably even aware of such "version" as Baltic Porter. Porters, stouts and other dark beers are not well-spread (while the same cannot be said about awful tasting strong lagers from 6.5% to maximum legal 9.5%, which are abound.) Given the predominantly sweet and straightforward taste of the dark ones I tried, I was never converted to a fan either.

This winter I bought a bottle of each dark beer available in local shop to refresh my memory. The verdict is that even though the overall quality has improved, little has changed in the taste and sweetness department. Nevertheless, I will actually enjoy another few pints of seasonal Horn Honey Porter, Būtautų Dvaro Tamsusis, Baltika's No. 6 (7% porter from St. Petersbourg, Russia) and Utenos Porteris during the remaining cold months.

The major and some smaller breweries usually produce at least one sort of dark beer. Utenos Porteris may be the most known, Švyturys has discontinued it's Degintas ("Burnt") while my former local and still favorite brewery Kauno Alus produces decent quality Senasis Porteris (”Old Porter”, 7%) and Biržiečių stout (8%) using “open fermentation”.

Another Kaunas' brewery Horn (former name Ragutis, it's an incredible shame to lose such a beautiful name for a brewery) releases seasonal Honey Porter (5.6%), whose toasted malt and caramel pleasantly interweaving with not-too-strong flavors of honey is good enough to my untrained tastebuds.

Kauno Alus, just as recreated Būtautų Dvaro brewery from Birzai, the traditional brewing region, are the only ones to my knowledge that bottle non-pasteurized traditional beers. Būtautų Tamsusis (”The Dark One”, 6%) has a very strong malt presence, and is sold in neat 1 l bottles.

Biržų Alus brewery from the same region is one of the oldest in the country, established in 1686. Among a few interesting sorts it produces dark Senovinis (”Olde”, 7.5%). I didn't try this one yet, not even during my trip to the beer region, but I saw it being labeled as schwarzbier, making it a German dark lager. Unfortunately this one, as well as many other beers from small traditional breweries are only available locally and only on tap. Two Šnekutis bars serving traditional country-style beers recently opened in Vilnius, partially filling this gap.