498. Great Lakes Brewing Co. – Edmund Fitzgerald

Posted By kkozlen on Nov 10, 2012 | 0 comments

Last night I noticed I duplicated one beer in my journey toward 1000 beers, and therefore, in order to correct the mistake this beer is also #498. Tonight, my family and I are at Flingers Pizza & Pub having dinner. They always have a good selection of craft beers on tap, and I noticed this one on the menu. I wasn’t familiar with the Edmund Fitzgerald, so I looked it up on my phone. According to the Wikipedia entry, it’s “an American Great Lakes freighter that made headlines after sinking in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975.” When I noticed it was coincidentally the 37th anniversary of its sinking, I knew I had to have this beer (and raise a toast to the 29 people who were lost when it sank).

Location: On tap and served in a regular tumbler pint glass at Flingers Pizza & Pub in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 5.8% ABV, 37 IBUs, 15 Plato OG, 204 Calories

Ingredients: Malt: Harrington 2-Row Base Malt, Crystal 77, Chocolate, Roasted Barley. Hops: Northern Brewer, Fuggle, Cascade.

Appearance & Aroma: It was black in color, but brown/ruby highlights were noticeable when held up to the light. There was a thin, cream colored head in it and a good roasty, chocolate, and molasses aroma.

Taste & Feel: The body was light-medium and the mouthfeel was slightly watery, and a bit crisp. There’s a mix of roasted caramel maltiness and dark cocoa flavors up front, with some black malt and coffee flavors becoming more prevalent in the middle. In the finish, there’s a bit of roasted coffee and cocoa bitterness mixed with some earthy/piney hop bitterness.

Food Pairing: I enjoyed this beer with our pizza, and it wasn’t too bad, but the roastiness of the beer didn’t mix too well with the cheesy pizza. If I were at a place that had more food diversity, I would have definitely chosen to enjoy this beer with some BBQ. The roastiness and flavors in the beer would mix nicely with some slightly charred, wet ribs, pulling all the brown sugar, caramel, coffee and cocoa flavors out of both.

Overall Impression: This beer had a fairly complex mix of flavors, yet it was light enough that it was still very drinkable. I enjoyed the mix of malt, coffee, and cocoa flavors without too much black malt and coffee-like astringency. Overall, I thought this was a very good porter with a nice, complex mix of flavors.

My Rating: