New breed of stout puts the dark stuff back in fashion

Stout has become so popular again it is Britain’s fastest growing beer.

Research, by Kantar World Panel, has found that sales of the black tipple across all retailers surged 15 per cent in the last year in a market worth £70 million.

Guinness is still by far the best known, but “newcomers” such as St Peter’s Cream Stout, Orkney Brewery Dragonhead Stout and Young’s Double Chocolate Stout are attracting a new generation of stout drinkers.

Stout’s popularity started to decline in the Eighties and Nineties but it is now growing at twice the rate of cider, with sales nearly four times that of ale.

Tesco has tapped in to the demand and sells 23 varieties. Its beer buyer Chiara Nesbitt said: “The general quality of stouts has improved so much that they now offer drinkers with a discerning palate the same degree of sophistication and satisfaction they get from a fine wine.”

Stout is made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water and yeast. It was popular with London street market workers: the strongest variety was known as stout porter, which was eventually shortened to just stout.