Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

Brewed by Eel River Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Fortuna, California USA

Bottle shared by OhioDad at C-Bus 6, thanks! Black pour with a tan head. Aroma of chocolate, roasted malt and light coffee. Flavor of liqourice, chocolate, and some roasted malts. Solid body with a nice roasty finish.

Bottle. Pours with a fluffy brown head over a, for all intensive purposes, black body. Decent lacing and some alcohol waves (but not legs). Aroma is roasty, coffee, leather, baked bread (sour dough), espresso, alcohol, and what seems like the lactose similar to the the note found in Guinness. Taste is coffee and chocolate with a lot of deeper, earthier coffee and leather notes dominating the finish. A bit of lactic notes, but very minimal. Some nice alcohol and anise flavors up front with the long, nutty-earthy roast finishing. A bit of smoke. Not bad. Creamy to lively bubbles, alcoholic finish. A touch thin though.

Pours a very dark mahogany color with a nearly black center. A small, frothy tan head settles quickly to a thin film, leaving minimal spotty lacing behind. The nose shows alot of sweet caramel and nougat, dark chocolate, anise, and a touch of mocha. Flavors continue the theme, falling on the sweet side of roasty. The caramel component is huge, outweighing even the chocolate and coffee. Goes down so easy, the 9.5% is barely detectable. Medium-plus bodied, incredibly smooth, and easy to drink. Not out of this world, but a very solid and tasty brew nonetheless.

Pours dark black with a short lived beige head. Smell is licorice, and chocolate. Taste is the same with licorice, chocolate and is lightly bitter. Medium to full body with light to medium carbonation. Solid, licorice heavy imperial stout overall.

Taste 11/08 Bottle. Looks: Opaque black with a thick tan foam. Aroma: Roasted and toasted malts with chocolate, a little wood and alcohol. Taste: Thick bodied version of the aroma. Chocolate, roast/toast malt. Sweet and bitter. Good quality ingredients. Decent recipe/blend.

Organic Beer Tasting at Three Cellars Milwaukee. Very Smooth and mild. Chocolate character without being to sweet

Pours black with hints of ruby around the edges. The head is thin and bubbly and recedes quickly to a minimal swirl on top with a little lacing. Smell is very sweet for an RIS - big on sweet roasted malts with dark chocolate and dark fruits very evident as well. Maybe a hint of smoked wood in the nose as well. Taste is also very sweet and dominated by the sweetness of dark fruits, vanilla, and roasted malts up front. There is a bit of dark chocolate and coffee as well and a faint hint of hops in the finish, but not much. Mouthfeel is sticky sweet and very creamy with decent carbonation. This isn’t the most complex of RIS’s but it’s very drinkable if you’re OK with sweeter stouts. Enjoyable and recommended.

Bottle from Total Wine in Roseville. This brew aged nicely, considering the organic nature of the beer. Nice, full-bodied Imperial with coffee, malt, and chocolate flavors.