Not much text to accompany the review today. Unfortunately, or fortunately maybe, I have a ton of other beer writing and reading that I'm doing right now. Most of it related to this damned obsession.
As I may have mentioned on this site before, I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio and Great Lakes Brewing Company was my hometown brewery. I grew up, in beer-drinking terms, with Dortmunder Gold, Burning River, Commodore Perry and Edmund Fitzgerald. These beers mark and define many of my preferences and biases whenever I approach these styles. Indeed, these beers are stylistic definitions in some cases.
So, I was back in Cleveland this past weekend and nostalgic for some comfort food in the manner of Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.
Appearance: Served at 55 degrees as recommended by the bottle, it is a deep, deep brown with a thick tan/off-white head that holds up strongly; looks a lot like the picture to the left there, but with ruby coloring on the fringes
Aroma: roasted malts and floral hops; the hop aroma is pretty forward though still secondary to the roasted malts; other chocolate and caramel malt aromas come through as well
Flavor: roasted and coffee-like with a nice espresso-y bite; it's not a huge flavor, this isn't an "imperial porter" or even a stout, but it really does much like a muted stout would; hops help to clean it up and it leaves a dry, coffeebean flavor in the finish
Body: somewhat soft and definitely medium to full-bodied; a bit on the "fuller" side for porters, but it isn't so substantial as to be overly filling
Drinkability: I definitely can't drink more than two, but it pairs great with lots of fall cook-out type foods and is great on the dinner table; it's also an easy sipper as it warms up well and is good for bars and watching Ohio State football
Summary: a classic; time has given me a preference for less body, but this definitely is a great porter that I would drink when I want a stout (since I like my stouts less full-bodied as well)
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