Eel River Certified Organic India Pale Ale

Brewed by Eel River Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Fortuna, California USA

Large off white head of medium sized bubbles. Thick sheet of sticky lacing. Cloudy copper in color. Floral hops aroma with some bitter tea and some pencil shavings. Light roasty flavor. Gritty palate. More bitter hops and some dry roasted peanut skins. Lingering bitterness and grapefruit juice. Little bit of caramel malts. Alcohol is hidden very well. A decent IPA.

Small, yellowish head over amber beer. Sweetish nose, bit of lytchee, very discreet nose. Fleeting S-component. Bitterish, but not really hoppy, more woody. Bit of alcohol, if not sweet. Medium bodied, alcoholwarming. Decent but unexciting IPA. Typically organic, I’d say. Thanks, CK!

Amber color. Smell of grainy hops, citrus, malt, caramel and grass. Taste of grains, hops, pine, grass, caramel, alcohol and malt.

12oz bottle, new to my state, so it should be very fresh. Clear orange with a medium head. Aroma is caramel, bitter and medicinal hops. This stuff is weird, to put it mildly. I get a strange baked bean flavor, followed by some fruity/floral notes. It’s really not good. I can’t believe these guys make one of my favorites; Raven’s Eye.

I’ve been disappointed with every organic beer I’ve yet tried, yet this beer, along with the Henry Weinhard organic amber, are among the best of what I find to be a pretty uninspired collection of organic beers. I say that as some one with no real brewing knowledge and who is blissfully unaware of the difficulties in making organic beer, versus non-organic beer (one man’s opinion). This beer pours a pretty dirty amber body with minimal head formation. It looks like a lot of IPAs once they get to old...unappetizingly cloudy and a bit syrupy. Aroma is a thick sweetness. Flavor is fairly IPA-like and pretty good, although certainly not best-of-style. Mouthfeel is a little thick. Still, all that said, this is among the best of the organic beers I’ve tried and it isn’t a bad IPA. I’d recommend this beer. I bought this bottle at 3 Cellars in Franklin, WI.

12 oz says 7.2% abv. Slightly hazy copper with a three-finger head that settles to a lasting cream. Grapefruit, honey, earthy grain and molasses aroma. The flavor front is more of the earthy grain, tea leaf, pecan, and orange-chocolate (but not the horrible kind, like orange-covered chocolates). Towards the end the citrus appears a bit more, along with some fruity mint and bitter pith. Almost-medium body is smooth, tongue-tingly, and finishes mostly dry.

bottle poured a caramel amber color with a huge thick two finger light tan head that had fantastic retention and coated the glass down. aroma has sweet grapefruit, hop resin, caramel malts, and a bit of citrus. mouth feel has fairly hefty carbonation and a medium body. flavor is hop fronted with bitter resins, sweet grapefruit, light pines, and floral citrus. malt is there with caramel sweetness and the citrus picks up as it warms. very well balanced between the sweetness and bitters.

Pours a copper/brass color with some cloudiness. Moderate off-white head which leaves light lacing. Nose of yeasts with a slight grassyness. Complex taste with notes of fruit, especially strawberry/blackberry, wood, malt, and hop. Finish is very hoppy and tastily bitter as is typical of a good IPA.