Recently, Great Lakes Brewing Company threw down the gauntlet; challenging me to find a GLBC beer that is All Me. Challenge Accepted by this beer-loving girl.

If you had to pick a beer to define you, which would you choose?

• Are you smooth, balanced and charmingly unpretentious?
  • Then perhaps you are the Dortmunder Gold Lager.
• Are you smooth, perhaps arresting, and a bit of a paradox?
  • Then you might be Eliot Ness Amber Lager.
• Are you a bit nostalgic and a bit refreshing?
  • Then you are the Turntable Pils.
• Are you unique, a little sweet, and completely unfiltered?
  • Then you are the Holy Moses White Ale.
• Are you bold, mildly ironic, trendy while being a bit of a war buff?
  • Then you might be Commodore Perry IPA.
• Are you robust, shall we say energetic, and yet complex?
  • Then you are the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.

Without a doubt I’m the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (with the Dortmunder coming in a close second.) Of course, I had to give them all a try to figure out which one I was, even though I had a strong inkling before my first sip.

True Confessions of this beer drinker… When I was growing up in the Chicago suburbs, the only beers that ever stocked the family fridge were inexpensive, mass-produced, light beers. I didn’t even know variety existed in the beer world. When I went off to Milwaukee for college, the beer there was more of the same - what frat is really going to shell out for tasty beer?

It was my Senior year in college before I discovered the dark-side of beer… porters and stouts and barrel-aged beers, oh my. These drinks were so much more my style - robust taste, coffee flavors, roasted malt goodness, etc… I quickly ditched the light ales in favor of these tastier alternatives.

Soon after that I began hunting for local breweries that were killing the beer game - places like Great Lakes Brewing Company, born and housed in Cleveland. Heck, even all the company’s beers have Midwest-inspired names. The Edmund Fitzgerald, for example, is a noble nod to the SS freighter, by the same name, that sunk in Lake Superior in November 1975. This porter is GLBC’s small way of honoring those men.

As all my fellow female porter drinkers can probably attest to - some people don’t expect our sex to choose dark beers. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve order a porter and had a lighter alternative suggested instead. Or when asking for beer suggestions, I’m often offered some fruity concoction - so NOT my style. Honestly, I like being a little more ‘guy-like’ in this aspect. While I might run a fashion-heavy lifestyle blog, this chick can also change a tire, jump your car, fire a bow and arrow with pretty excellent precision and cook you a steak on the grill to perfection. Just sayin’. Let’s break those girly, fruity stereotypes and lift our porters high in the air!

So, the Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is all me - energetic yet complex. It’s dark and tasty, with rich roasted barley and bittersweet chocolate-coffee notes. It has a rich, nearly black color when poured with a thick light tan head. It’s smooth on the palate, and only has a 6% ABV, making it a beer you can enjoy without feeling the effects after a single glass.

Which GLBC beer is All You? Find out where GLBC is available near you and then get to work discovering which GLBC beer is all you.

Prepare yourself for a summer of greatness… Great Lakes Brewing Company is kicking off its Pint Size Pub summer tour, as part its 30th anniversary celebration! Think of The Pint Size Pub as a traveling brewpub experience. It will be making stops in select markets throughout the Great Lakes region over the summer - stay tuned for dates and locations. Plus, as part of the tour, GLBC will be giving away a trip to Cleveland to help the brewery celebrate its 30th anniversary in September.

This is a sponsored post. All ideas are my own. And since I LOVE beer, this wasn’t a difficult post to write.