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Edmund Fitzgerald

Great Lakes Brewing Co. | www.greatlakesbrewing.com

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

2516 Market Ave.

Cleveland, Ohio 44113

(216) 771–4404

First brewed: 1991

Style: American porter

Alcohol content: 5.8 percent

IBUs: 37

Awards: Gold medals in 1991, 1993, and 2002; silver in 2007; and bronze in 2004 at the Great American Beer Festival. Silver medal in 1998 and bronze in 1996 at the World Beer Cup.

Available: Year-round on draft and in bottles

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft beers to try:

• Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper

• Fat Head’s Battle Axe Baltic Porter

• Willoughby Gutterpup Porter

• MadTree Identity Crisis

• Fifty West Paycheck’s Porter

WHEN IT comes to award-winning beers produced in Ohio, nothing matches Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter—or just Eddie Fitz, if you have a good enough relationship with the brew.

The beer has won seven medals at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup over the years. No other Ohio-made beer can match that.

It is considered one of the quintessential robust porters in the United States. Need proof? The Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines, which provide a rundown of the ideal aroma, appearance, flavor, and mouthfeel for each style, list Edmund Fitzgerald first among the perfect commercial examples of its style.

Cofounders and brothers Pat and Dan Conway consider that high praise, especially for a beer that’s not among Great Lakes’ best sellers.

Edmund Fitzgerald came about because the brewpub used to serve Guinness when it first opened. The Conways quickly wondered why they were serving someone else’s brand when they could produce their own dark beer, a roasted, chocolaty brew they dubbed Edmund Fitzgerald.

The name pays tribute to a friend’s father, 62-year-old John McCarthy, who died aboard the SS Edmund Fitzgerald when the freighter sank in Lake Superior in November 1975 during a major storm. All 29 men aboard lost their lives.

McCarthy was the first mate; the voyage was supposed to be his last before he retired. The Conways reached out to the McCarthy family to make sure it was all right to use the Edmund Fitzgerald name.

The beer label features an image of the ship careening through the choppy Lake Superior waters and shares the story of John McCarthy.

Edmund Fitzgerald turned out to be matriarch Margaret Conway’s favorite Great Lakes beer.

“She wasn’t a beer drinker,” Pat Conway recalls. “She liked martinis, but she liked our porter.”