Malt & Grain

A Porter lives on its malt, and you can see that right in the glass. Descriptions of the Żywiec Porter recipe cite four barley malts: Munich malt, Pilsner malt, caramel malt, and roasted malt, plus sugar. In a beer that tastes of roast aroma and dried fruit, each type plays its own role.

Malt is made by soaking barley until it germinates, then halting germination with heat. This drying process is called kilning. The hotter and longer the kilning, the darker the malt becomes, and the more it tastes of bread, caramel, or coffee. Pilsner malt is pale and provides the base. Munich malt brings bread crust and depth.

Caramel malt is heated while moist, which converts the starch in the grain into sugar before brewing even begins — sugar that isn't consumed during fermentation. It provides sweetness and body. Roasted malt is nearly black and supplies the color as well as notes of chocolate and espresso.

The sugar in the recipe is no violation in Poland, since there is no Reinheitsgebot (purity law) there as in Bavaria. It makes the beer drier and raises the alcohol.

Kraków has long known its way around malt. When Baron Goetz-Okocimski took over Browar Lubicz in 1904, he renamed it Browar Krakowski and Fabryka Przetworów Słodowych J. Gotza — the Kraków Brewery and Malt Products Factory. This shows how closely brewing and malting were linked. Okocim is also the source of Okocim Porter, a second example of the region's dark malt tradition.