Northern Beers

There was an article a few months back about the 8 top porter beers in the US.  Two of them I hadn't enjoyed yet were a Michigan brewer and a Ohio brewer.  The Michigan brewer was Founders and their beer is Founders Porter.  As luck would have it, my sister and brother-in-law's event center, Seven Steps Up, had Founders Porter on tap.  That beer was so awesome, so I wanted to find the other yankee beer, Great Lakes Brewing Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.  My brother-in-law suggested we try a place down the road in Spring Lake called The Corner Market & Spirits.  It looked like your regular liquor store and the beer selection was OK, but nothing exciting.  We looked around the corner and found a wall and cooler full of craft beers!

The really cool thing is that you can mix and match your beers in a 6 pack.  So, I was looking around and found many of the Great Lakes Brewing beers and voila, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.  I picked up two of those.  I also found Dark Horse Brewing out of Marshall, Michigan.  The beer I picked up was Too Cream Stout.  I picked up two of those.  Lastly, to fill the last two remaining spots I found O'Fallon Brewing out of O'Fallon, Missouri.  I picked the Black Hemp Black Ale.  If I lived here, this would be a store I would visit often.  The guy working there was pretty knowledgeable about beers.  If I would have been alone with some time, I would like to have picked his brain for other Michigan craft beers.

On to tasting of the beers.

I have to say that I am totally unimpressed with the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.  Since this was on a list of top 8 porters, I am going to assume that there was a problem with this beer.  Something tasted off to me, but not in a skunked way.  My brother-in-law also was unimpressed, but he hasn't had many porters to compare with.  His comment was that is was bitter.

Next I tried the Dark Horse Too Cream Stout.  This was a nice stout.  Not one you take and say Dayum!, but a nice stout nonetheless.  Always happy to try new beers.

Lastly, I had the O'Fallon Black Hemp Black Ale.  Although it isn't highly carbonated, there was a fizzy sensation on the tip of my tongue as I drank it.  All in all, not a bad little beer.  I wish I had something more to say, but I would drink this one again for sure.

This means I will have to have another glass of the Founders Porter to finish off my trip here!