Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

Bottle at Badgerben’s Cellar Reduction provided by Skyview. Pours black with a tan head. Smells of cocoa and espresso, along with some roasted malt. Taste of coffee, slight chocolate with a lingering finish. Pretty good.

Cellar Reduction Night, Oct 20, 2007. Courtesy of Skyview. Black color with a thin head. A little coffee in the aroma. Strong dry roasted barley taste and a lot of raw, grain. Pretty straight forward and simple.

thick black pour with fluffy tan head, which takes a few minutes to completly settle to a fine film. Thick spotty lacing. Dry mouthfeel with hints of chocolate and hops before finishing with a pleasent coffee flavor. Very alcoholic as it warms also notable hints of vanilla as it warms

Bomber bottle and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Opaque with an initial huge frothy tan head which settles to a nice cover of foam, spotty lace. The aroma has notes of coffee, chocolate, raisin, apple, slight smoke, and a hint of earthy woodiness.

The taste is mostly dry and roasty with some moderate acidity and twang. There appears to be a bit of astringent hops in the middle before fading off towards an ashy and coffee like finish. The mouth feel is mostly smooth and slightly dry, a tad thin but hides the alcohol well.

A solid brew but hardly world-class, drinkable all around.

[Bottle, thanks Skyview] Pours black with a dark tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, some hops. Taste is about the same as the aroma with the roasted malt much more pronounced. Medium-thick mouthfeel. Long roasty finish. Nice stuff.

Thanks to JCB for the bottle. Pours dark brown color with a small head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, dark malt with a little dark fruit. Starts with chocolaty sweetness with coffee and a bit of liquorice and dark fruit, and finishes dry. No hint of the high alcohol. Really amazing stuff here.

Solid black with a wisp of a head. Heavy, earthy, coal, tar and dusty cocoa aroma. The smells remind me of cold, nutrient rich soil. Surprising light in body. Standard mix of stout flavors with nothing particularly outstanding. Lingering bitterness and roasted flavors in the finish. No noticeable alcohol. I wonder what "nitrogen conditioned" means, in relation to a bottled stout. The overall palate in the beer is a bit flabby.

Translucent chocolate amber pour settles darkly and opaquely in the snifter with icy tan sheafs lining the head like ice. Aroma breaks bread with dark, scorched chocolate, burnt mocha beans, crisp jojoba and unsweetened bakers chocolate sitting at the bottom of an espresso tin. Flavor tells a tale of dry, roasted revelations. The medium bodied fluid stakes its stopping power in the bittersweet baking chocolate morsels, unsweetened mocha brownie bars and heavily roasted mocha bean, lending a bitter acidity. Pulls off the perfect cloak and dagger routine when it comes to its ABV. Dry countertop cocoa grinds meet mocha beans and unsweetened chocolate ash. Burnt caramel sticking to the bottom of the candi pot gets smothered with singed hazelnut sheafs and disintegrating, burnt marshmallows for a dry, roasted, chocolaty café conclusion. Thanks for the bomber, tpkenned!