Stouts and Porters
The origins of Porter and Stout are buried in London at the turn of the 18th Century. A popular drink at this time was called Three Threads and was made by publicans mixing pale, young brown and matured stale brown ales. This was the first Porter. The London brewers, due to their cramped sites, had no choice but to buy in expensive pale and stale beers from the country for this. They therefore developed a London style of Porter, known as Entire Butt, or just Entire, which was made as a single brew and much cheaper to produce. Both Three Threads and Entire gained the nickname Porter, with the two styles surviving side by side for much of the 18th Century. The name Porter is said to have come from the beers popularity with Londons Porters of that era, but there are also other theories.
In 1788 Porter reached Bristol; in 1796 it was exported to Russia and had also reached Scotland. Stout had also appeared, which was initially a stronger or stouter Porter. By this time all Porter and Stout was made as Entire, but the end was in sight, as Porters and Stouts took months to condition, unlike Milds and Pale Ales which were known as "running beers", because they only took a few days to condition, before leaving the brewery. By the mid 19th century, many breweries had ripped out their deep fermentation vats for shallower ones for more of the running beers, and Porter and Stout were in terminal decline. The First World War hit the final blow from which Porter and Stout could not recover, except in Ireland where they still flourished.