Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

Huge thanks to EcMagee for this one. Pours jet black with 2-finger brown head. This is an easy 5 for look. Aroma is chocolate malt, chocoff, hints of cherry, some nuts. Tastes dark malty, with chocoff, bourbon, noticeable alcohol, mild tart cherries. Not sweet, and stays rather dry, with a nicely smoothed out palate courtesy of the Nitrogenation, but a rather light in heft palate for the style, whch makes this one smooth to quaff, even though the alcohol stays prominent throughout, which lends this one an air of a slighty thin bourbon-oak-barrel stout. At the last dregs, a lot of brown lacing remained. Well done, yet again, from Eel River.

Bottle. Pitch black pour with a light tan head. Chocolate malt aroma with some cherry and coffee notes. More coffee and chocolate in the flavor. The mouth feel seems somewhat thin but it seems to work well with the fruitiness of the flavor and the dry, somewhat bitter finish.

Bottle. Pours black with almost no head. Roasted and malty with notes of coffee, chocolate, hops and dark fruits. Soft mouthfeel with a somewhat dry finish.

Bomber dragged back from Asheville. Heavy, sweet roast aroma - thick, sticky syrup and espresso beanage with lots of malt and a large dose of vodka-ish alcohol. Chocolate with dried fruits, plum, and light bourbon. Touch of vanilla. Opaque pitch pour with a super-thick, creamy and lacing dark brown rocky head. Intensely (!) bitter taste, heavy roast with espresso overtones. Sticky, extremely obese body, playful mouthfeel leading into a heavily roasted, extremely dry and bitter aftertaste. Loads and loads and loads of thick malt, with, again, heavy notes of chocolate and fruit. Alcohol is a bit too high in the mix, to the point of being off-putting. Salty with a touch of licorice. I have to disagree with a lot of the criticism here; this impy is slightly simplistic, but an extremely robust and muscular rendition, a real powerhouse!

22oz - Aroma is roasted dark malts, espresso and snappy hops. Pours black with a small brown head and good lacing. Flavor is chocolate, mocha and a lingering hop bitterness. Very smooth and creamy with the alcohol hidden well. A nice imperial stout.

@ blind tasting - Very dark brown body with a red shine, some lacing; Quite nice balanced nose, not to complex but very pleasant, quite a bit of dried prune and some soft chocolate behind; Full balanced body, slightly sweet, slightly bitter; Medium long finish, very balanced bitter sweet, again quite a bit of dried prune aromas, some fruity coffee bean as well. Very balanced quite elegant beer, not standing out in any way, but very well made and elegant.

Bottle. [#12 Blind tasting session @ Sk8viking] Small rocky beige head that mostly diminished. Fair display of lacework. Black color. Aroma of molasses, chocolate, coffee, nutty, wood, vanilla. Full bodied with an alcoholic texture and a flat carbonation. Moderated to heavy sweet with light bitter flavor. Sweet light bourbon finishes with a long duration. Lovely 07-09-2007

Black coloured with a beige ehad. Roasted aroma of dried fruits, vanilla and chocolate. Roasted flavour of dried fruits, chocolate and vanilla. Dry roasted finish.