Bert Grant was a legendary figure in North American brewing - he moved to Yakima Valley in the1980s and set up a brewpub where he had the freedom to do all the things that he wasn't allowed to do working for Carling - which included recreating some of his favourite beers in the 1940s and before that were clinging on in Canada as memories of the great British export trade in the 19th century, things like
Dominion White Label that was effectively a Scottish pale ale from before pasteurisation reduced the amount of hops. He effectively
reintroduced to Yakima (and hence the the rest of the West Coast)
all the styles that had been killed off by Prohibition - IPA, imperial stouts etc etc. So I suspect some of the affection for his beer is actually affection for him.
There's
original specs here :
"You've heard of porters that taste like coffee, toffee or malt; mine will remind you of chocolate. "
| Original Gravity (Degrees Plato) | 11.8° (1.047) |
| Final Gravity (Degrees Plato) | 3.5° (1.014) |
| Alcohol (% by Vol.) | 4.0% |
| Bitterness Units (IBU) | 25 |
| Color Units | 90.0 |
| Malts Used | Pale, Caramel, Chocolate, Black & Peat-smoked (imported from Scotland) |
| Hops Used | Willamette |
| Adjuncts Used | None |
That's 70% apparent attenuation, you'd imagine he'd use a Scottish yeast if he could.
Here's a recipe from Clone Brews by T & M Szamatulske which obviously ignores some of the above :
19 litres
Grain bill:
3.3kg British 2-row pale malt
340g British chocolate malt
283g 40L american crystal malt
57g peated malt.
Mash at 68C for 90min
90 minute boil.
Hop additions: 90 mins - 26g Northern Brewer (7.9AA)
OG: 1.046-1.047
FG: 1.014-1.015
ABV: 4.1%
IBU: 30
Go easy on the peat-smoked, some of the recipes you see with 16% will just taste of burnt barbecue, you need no more than a couple of ounces at the very most.
For comparison, here's the current
Fuller's Porter recipe.
