Beer Question.

[Knockahoma]

I was looking at the beer in a grocery store today at lunch. There was a guy there stocking the shelves with a shirt from a beer company that I haven't drank in a while and don't plan on drinking again for a while. He asked if I needed some help. I told him I was looking for some porter style beer, and he said "this IPA is good". That did not make any sense to me. Are IPAs and Porters even closely related or is this guy feeding me a line of crap? Maybe that is why I do not care for his brand of beer. Thanks.

Knock

 

[razorector]

He is obviously just clueless to beer.

 

[acesn8s]

To give him the benefit of the doubt maybe he was just pushing his companies hoppy beer at you, especially if they didn't brew a porter.

IPA is typically a hoppy beer, pale in color.

Poter is typically a hoppy beer, dark in color.

Otherwise, he's just a delivery guy and not a beer guy.

 

[AndrewGWU]

To give him the benefit of the doubt maybe he was just pushing his companies hoppy beer at you, especially if they didn't brew a porter.
.....

Otherwise, he's just a delivery guy and not a beer guy.

My thoughts excatly. Although I do enjoy both styles, they are far different. However, a lot of people who are only accustomed to domestic cheap beer lump all other beers in the same category. They see all craft beers as similar, when there is truly so much distinction.

 

[Edcculus]

I'd have to disagree. Porter (especially the Robust Porter category) can have slightly higher hop aroma and flavor, however it is NOT considered a hoppy beer. Main flavors that are present are a strong maltiness with varying degree of roasty characteristics (depending on whether its a brown porter or robust porter). It is OK however for American Stouts to exhibit a fairly high hop aroma and bitterness as the IBU level is in the same range as an IPA.

 

[MrLara]

Porters: Porters can taste vastly different from one another. You can pick up notes of coffee, milk, toffee, caramel, chocolate, and spices when drinking it.

IPA's: They are made with more hops and have stronger malt backbones. As a result, they are heavy, bitter beers with a strong citrus character.

Apparently the guy wasn't very informed on his beer styles.

 

[Aschecte]

I can chime in here..... A Ipa and a porter have common ancestory as both are from England and both came into creation in the late 18th early 19th century but for much different reasons and that my friends are where the similarities end. Based on the BJCP guidlines ( the law when it comes to beer style) they are at different spectrums as a porter can be highly hopped but it uses a different style of hops like fuggles, East kent goldings, Hallertau think earthy hop flavor whereas a IPA even in the English sense uses more floral hops such as Pilgrim or pheonix hops now the American style is a punch in the face Citrus or piney flavor. Ipa's can be anywhere from golden to a medium brown in color but there coloration comes from crystal malts which also aid in sweetness by contributing dextrins. A Porter on the other hand can be from light brown to Black but it's coloration comes from Brown malt , Black patent and roasted barley a Porter is actually the predesesor of a Stout very different from a IPA indeed. Tell the salesman to keep selling but leave the defintion and styles to the brewers.