Eel River Triple Exultation

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

GABF 2006. Bottle. The beer pours to a dark brown body with a creamy beige head. The aroma is chocolatey, sweet powdered sugar, typicaal scottish aromas. Very well done, however. I wouldn’t really call it an old ale. The flavor is rich and chocolatey with some sugary molasses for sweetness. Nicely balanced, extremely malty.

Bottle. Mahogony beer with a cafe au lait colored head. Dark malt aroma with some berry. Toffee, coffee, chocolate malt flavors with raisins and raspberry. Alcohol present. Burnt malt starts to take over and linger. Fuller bodied. Could use time to mellow.

Pours a two finger pillowy light tan head that fades slowly leaving a good lace. Deep mahogeny color. Light carbonation and heavy bodied. Sweet raisin nose. Starts sweet like sharp raisins, mellows into hints of alcohol with a definite alcohol aftertaste. A decent old ale. $4.50 for a 22oz bottle from Liquid Solutions Tigard, Or.

UPDATED: MAR 10, 2007 Purchased in the local COOP in a 22 oz bottle. Poured a very dark cherry color with a big foamy tan head that lasted a long time. Very rich nose of burnt malts. Fruits and carmel are added to the flavor and with the high alcohol content this is almost too rich and powerful. A bit of sweetness. Somewhat bitter finish. Interesting brew however, and should please those that like their dark beers big and bold. Update: Jan 9, 2007. Again from a bottle. I let this warm up a little to about 45 F. It again poured with a giant foamy light brown head you could have eaten with a spoon. Nose is even more intense. The flavor was much improved, and much smoother. Don’t drink this too cold and this is about a good as an Old Ale can get. I have to furnish another update Mar 10, 2007. This time I got to sample some of this from a 2004 batch that was aged in the bottle. To say this was incredible is an understatement. The nose remains much the same but the mouthfeel was now so rich it felt like olive oil on the tongue, and the flavors so intense it gave me shivers. Really great citrus fruits and raisins dominate, and chocolate in the finish make this more of a 4.5 (9-5-9-4-18) instead of a 4.0. But because this is a special case I will leave my rating the same. However the message here is this is one you can buy now and lay down for a couple of years and it will mature into a world class Old Ale.

Bottle: Deep brown, hints of ruby, moderate to large beige head, foamy, fairly nice lacing.   Huge malty nose, seems thick and sweet, brown sugar, some caramel, and quite hot too.   Alcohol does not shy away from this one.   Whoa, very hot to start, with loads of citrus peel and caramel malts up front.   Bitterness is brought on by the citrus aspect, and not anything hop related.   In fact, this one has quite a low hop profile, but sure is kick’n it with the malts.   The finish is rough and alcoholic.   A bit brash, likely needing time to settle down.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate to full.   Somewhat sticky sweet.   Aftertaste yields some metallic notes and an akward bitterness that I can’t yet pinpoint.   Decent beer, but a bit rough.   Time might settle the alcohol down, but otherwise it might still be a bit clumsy.   Enjoyable, even if a little brash.   Glad to see something new from Eel River.

UPDATED: OCT 16, 2006 Bottled. Pours a rich coca-cola color with tan lacing. Aromas of bread, dark fruit, licorice and caramel. Extremely thick mouth feel. The taste is all over the place. Licorice, dark fruits and TONS of alcohol! This beer is HOT! Strange dusty/dry finish. I’ve got two more of these but I won’t open another one for a year or two, this is way too young to drink. Hopefully it will improve with age.

Re-Rate. I pulled one of these out of the caller this evening and I’m amazed at what a different beer it is even though it’s only been a few months. I wonder if my first bottle may have been bad... The color is the same but the flavor and aroma are dominated by chocolate with some dark fruits. Still very dry but no alcohol what-so-ever in the taste. A very nice beer, I’m glad I stumbled onto it this evening.