THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 11
BEER, WINE & MORE
bendbulletin.com/godrink
Spider City Brewing taps into Baltic porter
BY JON ABERNATHY • For The Bulletin
T
he months of winter call out for strong, fortifying beers — imperial stouts, barleywines, strong Belgian ales — big warming brews to stave off the chill. One
style fits the bill that remains largely unexplored is Baltic porter. Stylistically, Baltic porter fits into a niche between traditional porter and imperial stout,
with a dash of German schwarzbier thrown in for good measure.
The style showcases porter-like flavors
with the smoothness of a lager and a higher
gravity and alcohol, with rich malts and
dark fruit flavors. Baltic porter could also be
referred to as imperial porter, though exces-
sive hoppiness or roasted flavors are inap-
propriate.
As the name implies, the style originated
in countries surrounding the Baltic Sea,
such as Poland, Russia and Finland. During
the 18th and 19th centuries, England
shipped porter all over the world, and the
Baltic states developed a preference for the
higher gravity versions of these beers. Stouts
evolved from porters, and in particular a
strong stout was commissioned by empress
Catherine the Great of Russia in the 1780s,
which became known as “imperial” stout in
association with the royal court.
Brewers in those countries began brew-
ing their own versions of strong porters and
stouts.
One hallmark of their processes was cold
conditioning the beers, otherwise known
as lagering, even when using traditional ale
yeast; the use of lager yeast followed among
many breweries as lager beers became more
established.
After World War II, the Iron Curtain ef-
fectively cut off these breweries and Baltic
porters from the west. As a result, the style
was all but forgotten until the end of the
Cold War in 1991. Today, Baltic porter is
still a niche style but more and more craft
breweries are taking it on.
Locally, Spider City Brewing Company
offers its own interpretation with Black Lava
Sea Salt Baltic Porter as part of its regular
lineup. I recently picked up a four-pack of
cans of the brew and reached out to owner
and brewer Melanie Betti to find out more
about it.
“The inspiration behind this recipe came
from me and my sister, Michele (who is
Five recommended brews
1. Slippery Slope Winter Ale — Cascade
Lakes Brewing
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3. Czech Pilsner — Buoy Beer
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5. Acai Lemonade Cider — Avid Cider
Jon Abernathy/for The Bulletin
Spider City Brewing’s Baltic Porter is brewed with sea salt, which gets added during the whirlpool
(post boil) and in the bright tank during conditioning.
also an owner of Spider City Brewing), and
our travels through the Baltics,” she said via
email. “When we are abroad it is our goal to
see the topography of an area and experi-
ence the local beer and culture of the region
where we travel.
“In our travels through Poland, Lithuania
and Belarus we were able to sample many
Baltic Porters,” she said. “It is interesting to
note that Poland’s national beer style is Bal-
tic Porter.” Betti pointed out that in fact Po-
land just celebrated its Baltic Porter Day on
Jan. 16.
As the name indicates, Black Lava is
brewed with sea salt, which gets added
during the whirlpool (post boil) and in
the bright tank during conditioning. “The
amount I use is just enough to enhance
the flavor of the roasted malts,” said Betti.
“Think chocolate complimented with sea
salt!”
At 5.9% alcohol by volume, it’s lower in
strength than many other examples which
are often quite high (sometimes approach-
ing 10%). I found a pleasant cold brewed
coffee aroma with dark bread crust and a
touch of cookie dough in the maltiness, with
just a hint of roast that has a soft chocolate
roundness.
In the flavor, some roasted malt is tem-
pered with semi-sweet dark chocolate and
malty caramel. Despite the dark brown color
it doesn’t taste too roasty or dark and has a
light nuttiness and mellow toasted grains. It
has a touch of chewiness in the mouthfeel
and a malty, coffee-like finish. It’s pleasantly
chocolatey and easy drinking.
Several other breweries are also currently
offering interpretations of Baltic porter;
Sunriver Brewing Company recently tapped
Finnish Flash, brewed as a lager with a bit
of rye to 8.5% alcohol by volume; and 10
Barrel Brewing Company just released Ce-
lebrity Crush, a barrel-aged imperial por-
ter inspired by the Baltic style and brewed
in collaboration with Portland’s Breakside
Brewery.
With two months of winter still ahead of
us, Spider City’s Black Lava is a good start-
ing point to exploring the style and delving
into these strong dark brews of Eastern Eu-
rope.
e e
Jon Abernathy is a beer writer and blogger and launched
The Brew Site (www.thebrewsite.com) in 2004. He can be
reached at jon@thebrewsite.com.