What incredible vessel this must have been; weighing in at 13,632 tons empty, a whopping 729 feet long - a true modern marvel of its age in 1958.  Sadly, it met its demise in 1975; I will never have the pleasure of meeting this beautiful girl.  I think I've always had a fascination of ships, be it boats/planes/barges.  With all the incredibly bizarre stories of the Bermuda Triangle, Amelia Earhart, people trying to circle the globe, the 'Perfect Storm' (still one of the few books I've read cover to cover).  All of these have such passionate stories; many such bizarre and unanswered endings.  These people had a passion far greater then most people I know have for anything.  It takes a special person to be in the air flying from city to city, country to country; or be in a boat for 4-6 weeks or longer at a time never seeing land trying to make a living.  These people risk their lives every day to provide a service to all of us "land lovers".  Well, the Edmund and its story are similar but unique as all these stories seem to be.  Please visit this site I found at SSEFO.COM to read more about this beautiful vessel and the demise of 29 captain and crew.  To this day, no one is really sure of the last few minutes/hours of the crew and ship's life.  I can't fathom the concept of what these people and their families have gone through and my heart and prayers go out to them.  As Gordon Lightfoot wrote:
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'Gitche Gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy

The only parallel I can draw in my life (all be it small and weak) to this that even remotely makes me wonder why I am interested so, is that I grew up on the mighty Susquehanna River.  I can tell you that my father and I logged 15-20 hours a week at least 30+ weeks of the year between my ages 11-17'sh.  That is a lot of my life ( doing the math roughly 2250 hours or just shy of 100 days of my life were spent on or beside or in this river).  Sure, as many of us do that time is probably slightly exaggerated but there is no fish tale when I say my father and I had the best times of our lives on that river together.  Those times that will never be forgotten easily.  The one rule, the one lesson that my father instilled in me then that lives with me today and probably will never be forgotten is that you must ALWAYS respect Mother Nature.  She is more powerful visibly then maybe any other force out there.  I believe the captain of the Edmund had respect.  But no matter how much respect you have - when Mother Nature gets Angry and god makes his calling - it will be your time.  My heart and prayers go out to the 29 men on that ship and the families they left behind.  I have so much respect!

The Great Lakes Brewing have paid their own tribute to the Edmund in a Porter style beer named after the wonderful ship.  At 5.8% this is not a large alcoholic beer so you could definitely drink a few of these with out worrying to much.  This beer pours into the glass a pitch black color; I'm wondering how much inspiration of this black color came from thinking of the black night and dark waters that this ship went down in that cold November night in 1975.  I have to believe the smokey taste was completely inspired by the coal burning lady of the '50's that was eventually converted to oil in 1971-72.  The DEEP BLACK coffee taste that comes in EVERY sip of this beer quickly turns my mind to the coffee that the captain and crew surely brewed and drank every morning and night to stay alert and sharp during the operations of this fine vessel.  The complexity of this beer attempt to educate us on the 17 years of crews and captains and cargo that this ship must have shipped up and down the rivers and through the great lakes.  There is NO WONDER this is a Gold Medal Winner from the GABF from everything I find.  It is a bit bitter smokey and roasted coffee smell to it.  My self personally I didn't like the bitterness to it but I think that is true to the porter style.  But this beer was nice and drinkable and I enjoyed every last sip.

I don't typically do this but I wanted to leave this last tribute to the ship.  As frankly, it is a story that I found a bit of interest in while reading through it.  I've heard this song many times and never really knew it was about a real ship (not to mention how many times in the past I drank the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter not knowing of its history).  So beer really can be educational and I just proved it.  Anyway, I leave you with this - listen to the words as it is a tragic yet incredible story:

PS.  In case those cupcakes look to tastey - my wife has the recipe that she created/used to master these beasts on her blog at Butter is Better!  Please check it out for your viewing pleasure.

_I'm a little upset as I had just finished a great article for you all to enjoy and as I was trying to finalize the post I lost it all.  I don't know how, I don't know where, it just got wiped out!  DAMN YOU TECHNOLOGY!

So, I'll try to recreate as best as I remember.  I'm sure the second time around will not be quite as good:

Tonight's beer is a special presentation, buy one get one!  Its a story of time.  Last night I wrote about beers being brewed to age.  Yes, certain style beers are meant to be brewed and aged before drank.  I have never been very successful with aging beers; I like them to much and end up drinking them before they get to be more then a few days old.  The only beer I've successfully aged myself is a few years of home brews a friend of mine and I were brewing a few years back.  Sadly, that was a about 3 years ago and all my barley wine home brews are gone (barley wines are a favorite of mine and for another time - but if you are not sure they are most definitely a beer).  I am lucky enough to have a few good friends out there.  Of those good friends a few are beer friends, and one particular friend C.D. affectionately known as Nik to me was routing around his basement and found a version of beer from '09.  I happened to have an '11 in stock just waiting to be drank so I happily accepted.  I'm not sure of his beer "storage" area but I assume he stored it as appropriately as possible and the aging process was not wrecked with spikes in temperatures and sunlight.

So, enough of the garbage talk, lets get to the beer.  The beer I'm drinking tonight is a GREAT LAKES BREWERY Burning River APA.  It is 6% alcohol beer so nothing light about this.  On first impression, I notice nothing noticeably different between these two beers years.  The bottles are identical from the purple ribbon around the top, the wording on the bottle that talks of this beers history of the burning river in Ohio, to the label and picture of Cleveland and the fire coming from the river.  These bottles have not changed at all.  Once I poured the two beers into identical tasting glasses I immediately start to notice the difference.  The aroma from one is most definitely a stronger hoppy note, where the other is a bit more tame and sweet maltiness.  You can definitely smell a difference of age between the two.  The older '09 definitely hits you in the nose saying the malts have prevailed and will win the battle of this beer if given just enough time.  The second most obvious difference to me was the color.  The younger more immature '11 pup was a more bright yellow clear tint with a TON of gushing bubbly carbonation flowing through the beer as if there was an air filter in the bottom of the glass continuously flowing.  The '09 on the other hand, shows a more refined age, and shows a much more handsome brown'sh yellow... almost amber but not quite.  The carbonation shows in the glass but it is hidden by the darker tint of the beer.  The head on the two beers were even different.  On the '11, there was a thin covering of white head that sat on top of the beer as if the 'pretty boy beer' was going for some sort of 5'oclock shadow.  Where the more mature '11 has a very small almost none existent film across the top of the beer; almost as if it thinks being clean is a more professional look.

More important then anything - do they taste different?  As a matter of fact they do!  The younger '11 Burning River definitely screams of HOPS.  It is bitey and spicey.  You get the tingle of the hops on your tongue and the acidic oils of the hoppy goodness screaming through every sip.  The malts really never seem to show up till just before you swallow the beer.  They add a hint of sweetness in the finish that tells you, if you keep this beer around long enough you'll get a much more balanced and more centered brew.  All told it is a very nice and balanced malt to hop ratio with the balance a little in favor of the hops for sure.  It is definitely light and crisp and refreshing on the tongue.  Almost sort of a thin quality to it that would make it incredible for a hot summer evening get together by a camp fire.

Now, the '09 to me really presents as a much more refined, clean, smooth, solid beer.  The mouth feel is a little thicker and maltier.  It is sweet and sticks to your tongue and sides of your mouth more.  You still get the hoppy goodness but they are much more mellow and balanced out by a sweeter maltier body that shows that it knows how to take charge.  I would call this '09 equally balanced between hops and malts.  The carbonation seems to have calmed down a lot more and it almost presents it self in a more refined feel suchas a fine scotch or bourbon.  I think this beer at '09 is looking for a nice cigar to compliment it as you sit back relax and watch the day pass you by on some remote beach.  There is a side of me that thinks . o O ( wait, this beer almost tastes off, the smell isn't quite right, the hops are gone, it isn't really an APA any more... it is refined.  I mean I'm no professional beer taster here am I?  Maybe this beer is skunked.... what if this beer was BETTER 6 months ago and it is on its way down... maybe 10 months ago is really when I should have been enjoying this '09... ) O o . when I finally stop, and come to my senses I smack myself.  I'm no beer snob.  NO, I enjoy beer.  I enjoy some cheap beers.  And there has been some REALLY expensive beers that I have hated.  So, I come back to earth and realize why I'm doing this blog.  It is for me to find beers I LIKE.  And I LIKE this '09!  It is solid, it is mild, it is almost an oaky/woody backbone to it even though this beer surely never touched any barrels in the whole production.  Though, it got me thinking - what if Great Lakes did that; or what if they do?  I should look for that.  If this was an aged - cask conditioned Burning River... Oh my!

Anyway, thanks for listening.  I want to thank my friend C.D. for giving me the '09 to taste (and make this a two for one night).  I also want to thank my friend B.G. for re-introducing me to Pale Ales.  This particular Great Lakes is one of his favorites and I ALMOST feel guilty sitting here with out him drinking these two brews.  I'm sure he understands.  Please take a look at the photo shoot of these two beers below.  Tell me what you think, I'm trying to work on my photography skills.  The subjects as different in tasting were difficult to shoot.  The colors in the pics do not come through quite as vividly as I feel I could see in person.  But, I lend that to the '09 being a hard ass and just not cooperating as nicely as the '11 did.  Please enjoy!