Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

From its earliest days back in the fall of 1988, Cleveland-based Great Lakes Brewing Company has developed a rightfully deserved reputation as one of America’s top breweries. Certainly one of Great Lakes’ flagship beers, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is the quintessential Robust Porter, tossing around aromas and flavors of cacao, coffee, and English toffee with abandon. Dark malt and cocoa dominate the aromas, delicately straddling the line between roasted and burnt. Rick appreciated the “bracing dark roast coffee” aromas, comparing them to “lightly chilled Kahlua.” Pete, too, felt the coffee was the key note and commended the brewer’s artful meshing of Belgian chocolate, espresso, and even dried black cherries. Though not tipping over into blackness, this beer is a rich, saturated brown, shot through with crimson highlights and capped by a creamy, tan head. Flavors follow through from the aroma, with tons of cocoa powder and coffee, offset by a soupcon of caramel sweetness. Tom liked the dark malt and “hints of toffee,” and felt the slightly bitter and quenching dry finish “really tie this beer together.” A “rich chocolate base, topped by strong espresso and sweet caramel” impressed Tim, who felt the flavors were “classically porter.” Distribution is growing, but this is a beer meant to be enjoyed at the brewery’s inimitable pub – ask about Eliot Ness and the bullet holes in the back bar.