Renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a fan of the saying, “God is in the details.” While he didn’t originate the phrase, and he wasn’t talking about beer, he really might as well have been. What makes a beautiful building is a lot more than the right number of walls, some windows, and some ornamentation; and what makes a great beer is a lot more than the right number of IBUs and the use of certain malts. While it’s true that, once upon a time, beer sort of made itself, we’re a long time past that. If you want to make drinkable beer, you can follow a set of rote instructions. You might even make very good drinkable beer with that method. But if you want to make great beer, then you need to actively—even aggressively—drive the process and fine-tune it.
That sentiment is probably most true for stouts. There’s not much in the beer world to match the intensity and complexity of stouts, as a category. You’ll find warming alcohol, full mouthfeel, traditional ingredients that add intense flavors, and more. You’ll also find session beers, alternative ingredients such as coffee, and a wide variety of methods and techniques. As a result of this challenging combination of intensity and variety, it’s in our best interests as brewers to consider the component elements of stouts, their recipes, and specific methods if we’re going to make them well. We’ll be taking a tour through three stout-centric areas—balance, mouthfeel, flavor profile (roast and acidity, in particular)—and then wrapping up with a general discussion of recipe considerations to help you get as much out of your stouts as possible. God may or may not be in the details—but great stout definitely is.
Balance
To put it mildly, there’s a lot going on in stouts. Our first goal in fine-tuning should be to ensure that we’re creating a beer that we actually enjoy drinking, and for that we need to turn our attention to balance. When it comes to sweetness, we have two choices: eliminate it as much as possible, and/or counter it with other flavors. If we don’t, we run the risk of producing something that tastes like a dessert beer—which might have its place, but certainly isn’t the goal in most cases.