Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

Brewed By: Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio
Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from the Great Lakes sampler pack thingy purchased in IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Robust Porter, 5.8%

I'm wrapping up Great Lakes Brewing for now with their Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American freighter used to ship iron ore across the Great Lakes. The ship sunk in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, during a massive winter storm that had near hurricane-force winds, and waves up to 35 feet high. The crew of 29 all perished, and no bodies were found. With the brief history lesson out of the way, let us talk beer:

Great Lakes Brewing Company was founded on September 6th, 1988, brothers Patrick Daniel and Conway Daniel. It became the first microbrewery in the state of Ohio. The brewery expanded both in 1992 and 1998, and in 2010 and 2011 the brewery spent over 7 million dollars to improve their brewery and brewery equipment. The brewery produces over 100,000 barrels annuals, and serves 13 states and Washington D.C.. According to the Brewers Association "top 50 breweries list" from 2010, Great Lakes Brewing Company is ranked #22 for beer sales as a craft brewer, and #31 for beer sales in general (in America). You can take a stroll to the Great Lakes Brewing history page to get the full story about the brewery.

If you check out the Edmund Fitzgerald page at Great Lakes, you can read up about the beer in more depth. The beer is named after the famous ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald that tragically sank in Lake Superior in 1975. The Porter style originated in Great Britain, and according to Great Lakes' history blurb, "Porters" were named after the porters who carried goods from wagons to the stands at the English open air markets. There's much more history to be had with Porters, and much discussion and debate regarding Porters vs. Stouts. But that's for another time, another day. What I will mention is that today's beer is a Robust Porter according to the BJCP. This is probably a meaningless distinction, but the BJCP wants to suggest that this beer is substantial, malty, and dark, with complexy and roasty characters. 

This beer is brewed with 4 malts, Harrington 2-Row Base Malt, Crystal 77, Chocolate, and Roasted Barley. The addition of Chocolate malts and Roasted Barley will supply those darker flavors, like coffee, chocolate, and roast. The beer also uses Northern Brewer (bittering hop), Fuggle (English hop; earthy and woody aromas and flavors), and Cascade (citrus) hops. This beer clocks in at 5.8% ABV, and packs 37 IBUs. Let's dig in and see what this beer is about.

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

It's always good news when you crack open a bottle of beer and smell rich roasted malts before you even make an effort to smell them. I also want to comment that while subtle, the bottle artwork for this beer is nice. I'm kind of so-so on the Great Lakes bottle artwork. The good news is that the Great Lakes bottle labels look like they fall right off, so hello home brewers. And their beer tastes great...so helllloooooo home brewers.

Anyway, the pour reveals a dark brown, almost black, beer with 3-fingers worth of khaki/tan head. The head is creamy, and has the consistency of a root beer float. Head retention seems to be pretty solid, and there is lacing as the head pulls away. In bright light this beer is definitely ruby red on the edges, with a ruby red/brown body. You can't see through the beer, so we will just have to wait to taste it to determine how carbonated it is. I'm guess moderate to high based on the head.

The aroma on this beer is deep roasted, woody notes. I'm picking up really nice roasted malt, wood, hint of campfire, sweet aromas (chocolate, vanilla, Java coffee), hints of coffee, and a hint of hops (citrus, earth, and mild tones).

The taste on this is creamy, smooth, and moves from lighter malts to a big roasted malt finish. The back end is roasted malts, with some burnt malts and campfire. I'm getting some hops up front with some citrus and earth, there are some sweet caramel and molasses notes, hints of coffee and chocolate, and then you get hit with that woody, roasted, and slightly burnt and drying back end.

The mouthfeel on this is medium-light, very drinkable, smooth, and supported by fine carbonation. This is a touch rowdy in the middle, with some viciousness and maybe even a moment of chewy body. This has solid palate depth, and great complexity. There are nice hop and malt flavors in here. Up front you get some earthy hops and burgeoning malts; the middle has sweet flavors like caramel, chocolate, vanilla, and some more echoing hops; the back end is all about the malts with some burnt molasses, campfire, roast, and wood. It's slightly drying. Really nice but somehow pretty balanced, light and drinkable. You could pound these away at 5.8% ABV.

Rating: Divine Brew 

Score: 91%

This is really good, and I imagine I'll want to revisit this down the line. This has a nice progression of malt flavors, and the entire palate is supported by hops. This is also very complex, with lots of sweet flavors, roasted flavors, woody flavors, and burnt flavors. I imagine you will see lots of variation among reviews for this beer in terms of flavors extracted. When all is said and done, this is just another dynamite brew from Great Lakes brewing. My experience with their beer has been a net positive so far, and I would encourage people to check them out.