Eel River Certified Organic India Pale Ale

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

Twist off cap but couldn’t get it off, ouch. Shorter stubby bottle. Yellowish cloudy brown. Ubiquitous IPA aroma of too many hops. Biter initial pastic and processed palate. Preservative hop flavors that cannot be ignored. Worse than green grapefruit rinds. Terrible lingering medicinal bitter finish. Perfect example of this utterly rude style.

Earthy aroma, pours a nice amber copper color. Quite the earthy taste. This taste takes away for the hops and the overall taste of the beer. There’s also a kind of charcoal taste to the beer. An Ipa that’s different, but not better.

Bottle. Pours clear warm amber with a big and lacy pale yellow head. Citrus-dominated nose, just a little resinous. Light body and carbonation. Lightly sweet citrus and caramel taste, lots of pine in the finish, maybe a little earth. Not too bad, but this one seems to be working with a somewhat limited hop range.

Slight hazy copper beer, with a soapy, lasting head - the aroma is fairly sweet for the style, but it has the requisite herbal/floral/grassy hops and citrus qualities - fairly earthy, grassy hops in the flavor - the bitterness is fairly strong, and there isn’t that much going on to balance it - some slight pale malt and light biscuity notes - finishes a little buttery, with the bitterness lingering a long time, becoming almost metallic after a while - if you love hops you may like this - needs more balance/complexity.

12 oz bottle...Cloudy, muddy copper body beige head...floral hop nose-typical IPA scents....foam looks like whipped cream on a fast bottle to glass pour....malts and hops on the nose, nothing out of the ordinary....bitter thin body...bitter hops dominate this beer leaving well thats about it...good but ordinary...finish is bitter hops...in general--the sweet seems unbalanced with the bitter....and the high alcohol is disguised in the bitter.....no wow~~~~just drink now

A somewhat decent IPA. Aroma was weak but could pick up some grassy hops. Pour was a decent cloudy orange with a thin off white ring for a head. Taste was nice and bitter. Mostly pine and grassy hops, though it wasn’t very full or strong. The bitterness dries the mouth in the aftertaste which leaves a semi sweetness. So so.

Probably the best organic IPA I’ve had thus far. Personally I feel the organic beer thing is really for those folks that have to consume organic-only products. For myself I could care less. Aroma was a bit weird. Smells faintly of tuna, has a earthy undertaste too. Nicey hopped and medium bitterness. Not as crisp as I like. A copper-amber with minimal head and few lacings. If you are a person who needs to consume organics give it a try. Otherwise join me in a Deschutes Inversion IPA or the like.

Bottled. Nice appearance in a pint glass. Dark copper color and lots of sticky white lacing. Difficult to pick up any substantial aromas to write about, only a sweet must of citrus that likens itself to cough medicine and cereal. Pretty weak flavor overall, some wet hops and stale cardboard with a pleasing lingering bitter finish. Average IPA.