Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

[Bottle, thanks Skyview] Pours black with a dark tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, some hops. Taste is about the same as the aroma with the roasted malt much more pronounced. Medium-thick mouthfeel. Long roasty finish. Nice stuff.

Thanks to JCB for the bottle. Pours dark brown color with a small head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, dark malt with a little dark fruit. Starts with chocolaty sweetness with coffee and a bit of liquorice and dark fruit, and finishes dry. No hint of the high alcohol. Really amazing stuff here.

Solid black with a wisp of a head. Heavy, earthy, coal, tar and dusty cocoa aroma. The smells remind me of cold, nutrient rich soil. Surprising light in body. Standard mix of stout flavors with nothing particularly outstanding. Lingering bitterness and roasted flavors in the finish. No noticeable alcohol. I wonder what "nitrogen conditioned" means, in relation to a bottled stout. The overall palate in the beer is a bit flabby.

Translucent chocolate amber pour settles darkly and opaquely in the snifter with icy tan sheafs lining the head like ice. Aroma breaks bread with dark, scorched chocolate, burnt mocha beans, crisp jojoba and unsweetened bakers chocolate sitting at the bottom of an espresso tin. Flavor tells a tale of dry, roasted revelations. The medium bodied fluid stakes its stopping power in the bittersweet baking chocolate morsels, unsweetened mocha brownie bars and heavily roasted mocha bean, lending a bitter acidity. Pulls off the perfect cloak and dagger routine when it comes to its ABV. Dry countertop cocoa grinds meet mocha beans and unsweetened chocolate ash. Burnt caramel sticking to the bottom of the candi pot gets smothered with singed hazelnut sheafs and disintegrating, burnt marshmallows for a dry, roasted, chocolaty café conclusion. Thanks for the bomber, tpkenned!

Huge thanks to EcMagee for this one. Pours jet black with 2-finger brown head. This is an easy 5 for look. Aroma is chocolate malt, chocoff, hints of cherry, some nuts. Tastes dark malty, with chocoff, bourbon, noticeable alcohol, mild tart cherries. Not sweet, and stays rather dry, with a nicely smoothed out palate courtesy of the Nitrogenation, but a rather light in heft palate for the style, whch makes this one smooth to quaff, even though the alcohol stays prominent throughout, which lends this one an air of a slighty thin bourbon-oak-barrel stout. At the last dregs, a lot of brown lacing remained. Well done, yet again, from Eel River.

Bottle. Pitch black pour with a light tan head. Chocolate malt aroma with some cherry and coffee notes. More coffee and chocolate in the flavor. The mouth feel seems somewhat thin but it seems to work well with the fruitiness of the flavor and the dry, somewhat bitter finish.

Bottle. Pours black with almost no head. Roasted and malty with notes of coffee, chocolate, hops and dark fruits. Soft mouthfeel with a somewhat dry finish.

Bomber dragged back from Asheville. Heavy, sweet roast aroma - thick, sticky syrup and espresso beanage with lots of malt and a large dose of vodka-ish alcohol. Chocolate with dried fruits, plum, and light bourbon. Touch of vanilla. Opaque pitch pour with a super-thick, creamy and lacing dark brown rocky head. Intensely (!) bitter taste, heavy roast with espresso overtones. Sticky, extremely obese body, playful mouthfeel leading into a heavily roasted, extremely dry and bitter aftertaste. Loads and loads and loads of thick malt, with, again, heavy notes of chocolate and fruit. Alcohol is a bit too high in the mix, to the point of being off-putting. Salty with a touch of licorice. I have to disagree with a lot of the criticism here; this impy is slightly simplistic, but an extremely robust and muscular rendition, a real powerhouse!