Please allow me to start off by saying I haven’t had anything by Great Lakes that I didn’t love. For me, it’s like skinny brunettes who can sing – it’s all good.
It’s quickly become one of the breweries I would recommend just on name alone. I can’t remember if Edmund Fitzgerald or the Commodore Perry IPA was the first Great Lakes I tried, and frankly, it doesn’t matter, they both rock. But since it’s January and 20 degrees out while I’m writing this, I’m revisiting Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.
There are thicker porters out there, so if that’s your thing, you might only love, not lust for this beer. But in my mind, as far as porters go, this is as good as it gets while still having a mass appeal to all beer drinkers. It has that musky, coffee taste you’ve come to expect from a good porter.
It starts smooth and becomes progressively more hoppy and bitter as it finishes.
If you’re trying to recommend a beer to a new snob, this isn’t bad. It’s got flavor and since it’s not overly hoppy throughout, it’s a good snobby-beer starter. Non-snobs usually need to gradually work their way up the IBU scale, I’ve found.
Great Lakes doesn’t seem to take huge gambles with their beers by way of flavors and types, instead they seem to have focused on just making crazy good beers. They’ve done that with Edmund Fitzgerald. Go get it.
Musical Pairing: Better Than Ezra – Misunderstood (seriously, listen to the song and drink this, it’s good stuff)