The Dark Side

I’ve gone over to the dark side.  There was a time when I savoured pale ale and lime, Corona style, but this only appeals to me now on the very hottest summer day.  These days when I’m drinking beer I like more robust flavours.

There were two restaurants in Sacketts that featured microbrews and I discovered a Great Lakes porter called Edmund Fitzgerald, in honour of the ship that sank in Lake Ontario in 1975.

The porter is brewed in accordance with purity laws of 1517, meaning it is made only with hops, barley, malt and pure water.  Hey, that's organic!

 ‘Red’, ‘Amber’, and ‘Stout’ are styles I’m familiar with but I don’t recall ever sampling a porter.  Wow!   If Edmund Fitzgerald is representative, this category is dark caramel in colour with a creamy, buttery, smoky taste.  With undertones of chocolate and coffee (I'm not kidding!).  Substantial, but not quite as heavy as a stout.

The Beer Advocate says

Porter is said to have been popular with transportation workers of Central London, hence the name....Porter saw a comeback during the homebrewing and micro-brewery revolution of the late 1970’s and early 80’s, in the US. Modern-day Porters are typically brewed using a pale malt base with the addition of black malt, crystal, chocolate or smoked brown malt.

Doesn't look like the LCBO stocks this particular porter, they have something called a Black Irish Porter that's brewed in Ontario and another called Fuller's London.  I’ll have to plan an autumn meal around this - served outside in the afternoon, with homemade bread and great cheeses, just-picked apples, the leaves outside turning beautiful colours, a fire going in the chiminea.  Mmmmmmm.

Great Lakes photo