The neck label touts the beer and the brewery's environmental stance. "Thanks to our craft brewing process, when you take a swig of our Edmund Fitzgerald, it will taste smoky, robust, dark and bittersweet. Thanks to our environmental efforts, if you take a swig of Lake Erie, it won't taste smoky, robust, dark and bittersweet." Best served at 55 degrees F. Enjoy by 03/12/12.
Nice head. Roasted, nutty, cocoa powder aroma with a nice coffee shop smell to go along with those. Roasted flavors dominate the beginning, while a big dose of smoke takes you right to edge of burnt without quite getting there. I liked that part. Lots of coffee thoroughly coats your entire mouth--quite the thick and chewy full-bodied beer! Chocolate flavors are present but just in a support kind of role.
A nice bitter hoppy aspect shoots through the beer toward the end, adding some interest while breaking through the thickness a little. The ending is very smooth and clean with some bitterness and a nice roasted aftertaste hanging around. Really a terrific beer! Porters usually rub me the wrong way with out-of-place bitter harshness and burnt malty annoyingness. This had none of that and is one of the best porters I've ever had! Grab it when and where you can!