Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

Decent sized head of light brown bubbles. Dense and creamy. Minimal carbonation. Rich roasty aroma with lots of dark chocolate, mild coffee and some roasted malts. Perhapse a bit of lactose. Color is essenially black. Silky smooth and creamy in the mouth. I wonder if this is nitrogen infused in the bottle. It would seem so. Lots of coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Rich and roasty. Finishes silky smooth and creamy with a lingering coffee flavor. A decent impy but leans a little heavy on the coffee which is not to my taste. Still a solid and silky smooth brew.

Smells like a fresh brewed pot of coffee. If I paid closer attention and saw this was organic, I never would’ve ordered it. Just don’t care for the organic stuff. Anyway, no lasting head to speak of and not much depth of flavor. A little roasty. Little bit to boozy for my taste. Not terrible but not great either. My aroma rating will skew this one’s rating higher than it deserves but whatever.......

Pours a dark mahogany with a thin tan head that disappears quickly. The smell is strong with chocolate, roasty, and coffee aromas, but it smells overly burnt with a strong soy sauce background, which comes out more as it breathes. The taste is much better than the smell. Strong coffee and espresso flavors, with a silky smooth body. Very roasty and burnt, the focus obviously being the malts. This is a pretty decent Imperial Stout that’s kinda interesting to drink. Most RIS you have are hopped to hell - this one is barely even bitter. While it somewhat fails in it’s delivery, the focus on the roasted malts makes this a joy to drink, but not more than one.

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.

Dark, dark pour with great mocha head. Nose is a deep roasted chocolate malt with an espresso aroma mixed in. Flavor is rich with coffee, dark chocolate, roast and toffee. No ashy flavors, wish is surprising considering the roastyness on this beast. Hops are preseant, but certainly take a back seat. ABV really wasn’t that apparent to me as I was drinking....it was after. Great beer.

bomber from the cheese man! thanks! typical RIS pour, very black, nice tan head. Aroma is ALL roasted malt, some smoke, and a touch of dark roasted soy sauce. Flavour is super roasty, with touches of coffee, chocolate, and lots of roasty smokiness. NOt a bad impy at all, i love how roasty it is, and you dont get smacked over the head with hops.

22oz Bomber - Gravity Beer Market - Olympia, WA
Aroma – Good deep dark malt aroma. Lots of Chocolate and coffee aroma.
Appearance – Dark Brown in color, Light head and clear.
Flavor – Huge Dark beer. Dark malts and a lot of extra Coffee and Chocolate flavors.
Palate – Nice Mouthfeel, Good Gritty texture with a decent finish.
Overall – A very nice beer to drink. Huge flavor. Lots of character. This was not a beer for the wimpy light beer drinkers. This was put out for us who can handle the good stuff.

A very average/slightly below average impy. Aroma was very weak for the style. Chocolate mostly. Pour was a deep dark brown with a one finger off white head. Taste was thin and watery. Mostly chocolate malt with a bitter espresso aftertaste on the back of the tongue. Decent carbonation. Hides the alcohol wonderfully. I’ll give it that.