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Edmund Fitzgerald Porter: The real story of how the Great Lakes Brewing Co. beer got its name
By Marc Bona, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on March 19, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated March 19, 2015 at 7:03 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio - This year marks the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, on Lake Superior in 1975. While many Americans may be reminded of the wreck only when they hear Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad, Clevelanders have more of a constant remembrance: The ship is immortalized on the label and name of Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s porter.
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The label on Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s Edmund Fitzgerald porter. New labels and packaging are due this year.
The Plain Dealer
Here's the story behind why that is:
Owners Pat and Dan Conway are friends with John McCarthy, whose father, Jack, was first mate on the Fitzgerald - one of 29 people who perished when the ship went down.
When the brewery came up with the name years ago, they asked John about it.
Pat said John told them: " 'My dad would be honored.' "
That honor will continue into the redesign of Great Lakes labels this year. Conway said the number 29, representing the deaths, along with a reference to a book noting Jack McCarthy will be part of a collage on the new label.
The Conways have known McCarthy for about 30 years and learned about his father over time.
"It's one of those tragic things," Conway said. "He was ready to retire, along with Captain (Ernest) McSorley." McSorley was 63 when he died.
The brewery even held a commemoration to mark the 25th year of the ship's sinking, drawing about 200 people, including the Coast Guard commander who helped track the Edmund Fitzgerald the night of the storm.
The ship left on its fateful journey Nov. 9, 1975. The taconite-loaded bulk carrier - named after the president and chairman of the Board of Northwestern Mutual - had left Superior, Wisconsin, bound for Detroit (not for Cleveland, as the song suggests). The massive vessel was 729 feet - almost two and a half football fields long - and weighed 13,632 gross tons. A storm caught her on Lake Superior, with gale warnings and winds gusting to 50 knots, seas swelling to 12 to 16 feet.
"When they left, it was calm, it was a beautiful day," Conway said. "It came out of nowhere."
While there is speculation about what specifically caused the sinking - rogue waves among the theories - a 1977 Coast Guard report cites "massive flooding of the cargo hold."
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, black as a dark night, has chocolate and coffee notes with a hint of hops on the finish. The smooth year-round beer for Great Lakes Brewing Co. has garnered more than 15 awards and has been cited in numerous beers-not-to-be-missed books. It is a moderate 5.8 percent in alcohol and has 37 International Bitterness Units.
Conway said at Great Lakes, the styles of beer are matched to the names they are given.
"We considered the style of beer - taconite is dark - and the name dovetails nicely with the style," he said. For instance, "You wouldn't want to have a real light session ale and use the word 'barrel' in the name.
"The name should associate with the style."
Occasionally, the name throws people off, with some thinking it's disrespectful. The brewery's Luke Purcell says when people say that to him he tells them the story of the Conways and John McCarthy, how it's meant as a tribute to the first mate.
Incidentally, Lightfoot was scheduled to play Sunday night, March 22, at Akron Civic Theatre, but cancelled due to illness. His concert is scheduled to be made up on Thursday, May 28.
How the Fitz beer got it's name
