Some beer names are just names. This one isn’t. Every pour of Edmund Fitzgerald Porter carries the weight of an actual shipwreck, and once you know the story, it’s hard to drink one without thinking about it.
In this article:
The Ship, the Song, and the Beer
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a 729-foot freighter, the largest on the Great Lakes for over a decade after launching in June 1958. She sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with all 29 crew members lost, a tragedy immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Great Lakes Brewing Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio, named its flagship porter after the ship as a tribute to the crew rather than to profit off the tragedy. Co-owners Pat and Dan Conway have a personal connection to the story: they’re close with John McCarthy, son of the Fitzgerald’s first mate Jack McCarthy. The Fitzgerald was the pride of the Cleveland-based Oglebay Norton fleet, and since Great Lakes Brewing takes its own name from the lakes the ship sailed, the connection felt natural to the founders. The brewery marked the 50th anniversary of the sinking in November 2025 with a renewed tribute to the crew.
Great Lakes Brewing named its flagship porter after the Edmund Fitzgerald as a tribute to the 29 crew members lost in 1975, not to cash in on the tragedy.
Tasting Notes
Poured into a pint glass, Edmund Fitzgerald comes out dark brown with deep ruby highlights when held to light, topped by a tight tan head. The aroma is roasty and bittersweet, with chocolate and coffee notes upfront. On the palate it’s medium-bodied and well balanced: roasted malt and dark chocolate carry the middle, with just enough hop bitterness on the finish to keep it from tasting like dessert. It drinks more complex than a lot of American porters, robust without tipping into stout territory.
ABV and Ingredients
Edmund Fitzgerald is brewed with 2-row base malt, crystal, medium and chocolate malts, and roasted barley, hopped with Apollo, Willamette, and Cascade. At 6.0% ABV and 37 IBU, it’s more assertive than a session beer but still easy to drink through a full pint. Great Lakes packages it in 12 oz. cans and bottles, as a 12-pack, and on draft.
Where to Find It
Great Lakes Brewing distributes across much of the Midwest and East Coast, so Edmund Fitzgerald is easier to find than a lot of the regional beers we cover. If your local shop doesn’t stock it, look for other robust porters as a substitute, or check our beer history guide for background on how the porter style developed, and our stout brands roundup if you want something even darker.
5 Porters to Try If Edmund Fitzgerald Isn’t Around
Edmund Fitzgerald travels further than most regional beers, but if it’s not on your shelf, these porters land in the same rich, roasty territory:
How It Compares to Other Porters
Edmund Fitzgerald sits at the robust end of the porter spectrum: more roast and body than an English brown porter, but still short of a stout. If you want the exact line between the two styles, our stout vs. porter breakdown covers where porters stop and stouts start, which is a closer call than most drinkers assume. For a smokier take on the same dark, roasted family, our Okell’s Smoked Porter and Alaskan Smoked Porter reviews are worth reading side by side with this one, since both start from a similar malt bill but add real smoked malt on top.
On the table, dark chocolate is the obvious match, the beer’s own chocolate and coffee notes just extend what’s already in the glass. Beyond dessert, it also holds up well against barbecue, smoked brisket especially, and firm cheeses like aged gouda. If you’re building out a full porter and stout lineup for a tasting, our stout brands roundup and beer and chocolate pairing guide both dig deeper into that same dark-beer territory.
FAQ
Is Edmund Fitzgerald a porter or a stout?
It’s labeled and brewed as a robust porter, though the line between a robust porter and a stout is thin. Our stout vs. porter guide explains the actual distinction.
Is Edmund Fitzgerald smoked?
No. It gets its roasted, coffee-like character from chocolate malt and roasted barley, not from smoked malt. For a genuinely smoked porter, see Alaskan Smoked Porter.
Why is it named after a shipwreck?
Great Lakes Brewing’s founders have a personal connection to the crew’s families and named the beer as a tribute rather than for shock value; the full story is above.
