Eel River Triple Exultation

Brewed by Eel River Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Fortuna, California USA

This is the fourth beer (a 2006 vintage) in our June 11th Old Ale Blind Tasting. It finished in 6th place.

Pours dark brown with quarter inch firm dark tan head and some sheet lacing. It has a mild aroma with light amounts of fruity esters, black licorice, earthiness and faint sweet malty caramelization. The taste starts smooth and silky yet a bit thin feeling. I get dark fruity raisins, cherry hard candy and something nearing pepper. It also gets sweet and rich with maltiness as midway approaches and some hoppy bitterness joins in and build to the finish. Kind of earthy and mildly musty. The after taste is hops, a bit of pepper and wet cement like earthiness.

Bottle courtesy Ibrew2or3. Pours dark brown with a large tan head that lasts leaving good lacing. Aroma of caramel, slight roast, and dark fruit. Taste is the same as aroma with some spicy yeasty peppery goodness. Medium mouthfeel with a moderate amount of bitterness and well hidden alcohol. Good.

Amber with next to no head. Aroma of caramel, bread and mild hops. Taste is of caramel, toffee and grassy hops. A little bit too sweet and unbalanced. Alcohol is hidden decently though shows up a little bit in the finish.

22 ounce bottle shared by cdog69. Pours clear brown with an off white head. Very bready aroma. There’s also some toffee and a light layer of roast. Very malty, bready, biscuity, toffee, and toasted. There’s very little hop character here, but its just bitter enough to make it interesting. Full body with a bit more carbonation than expected. Dry finish. Really nice.

Cherry wood dark brown-amber with a thick, creamy brownish head. Aroma starts with mild fruit, then deepens and increases in complexity for the discernment of cherry and plum with a moderate hoppiness. Nice aged-wood flavor quality, dryish but not parching. Moderate hoppiness and lovely layers of fruit, cherry and plum. A wonderful raisinette (chocolate and raisin) flavor develops. Alcohol is masterfully integrated to accentuate the flavor and mouthfeel qualities. Outstanding!

Had a hard time picking out aroma molecules , fuit tinged chocolate malt and black pekoe from what I could detect, taste was a more up front strange and interesting combination of flavors, including root beer candy, chcolate frosting,and slightly burnt caramel, occasionally the alcohol would float to your attention. Would have rated in the 4’s if i could have gotten more aroma

Really un-hot for something so near 10% alcohol. Pours chestnut color, huge head, great malt aroma. A bit of roasty malt flavor, no overpowering hops, and like I said, not a lot of noticeable alcohol for something this strong. It’s nice!

Pours a 2 inch high head of fine and dense light orange bubbles. Decent carbonation for this big a brew. Settles very slowly. Thick sheet of sticky lacing. Lots of malts and caramel in the aroma. Hint of roasted grains. Color is a cloudy mahagony brown. Sweet malty flavor with a decent alcohol kick and warming. Roasty flavor and a bit dry and grainy late swallow. Lingering caramel and bitter tea. I am a big fan of old ales and while there are plenty of good ones out there this one is not all that bad.