Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

500ml bottle scooped up in Milwaukee. Opaque black, maybe a hint of brown. Big rusty beige head. Solid chocolate aroma, like hot cocoa with a touch of hoppy astringency. Damn, this beer is quite nice and mellow for the ABV. Silky, creamy mouthfeel. There is some hoppy bitterness up front, but fades into a sweet chocolate finish. You get hints of the high alcohol every so often, but overall quite nice and dangerously sessionable. Well done.

Thanks group for the share! Pours brown (cola) black with a nose of chocolate, slight coffee, and vanilla. Flavor is dark chocolate, deep coffee, nice dark maltiness, and layer after layer of depth. Enjoyable, and good to spend time with. It opened up once I let it sit for a minute; well balanced.

Pours black with hints of ruby around the edges. The head is thin and bubbly and recedes quickly to a minimal swirl on top with a little lacing. Smell is very sweet for an RIS - big on sweet roasted malts with dark chocolate and dark fruits very evident as well. Maybe a hint of smoked wood in the nose as well. Taste is also very sweet and dominated by the sweetness of dark fruits, vanilla, and roasted malts up front. There is a bit of dark chocolate and coffee as well and a faint hint of hops in the finish, but not much. Mouthfeel is sticky sweet and very creamy with decent carbonation. This isn’t the most complex of RIS’s but it’s very drinkable if you’re OK with sweeter stouts. Enjoyable and recommended.

Shared by someone at C-bus 6, thanks to you! Light chocolate aroma comes from a black body with tan head. Medium palate. Tangy malt flavor up front with some roasted coffee and light hops in the finish.

(22 oz. bottle from Bootleggers) Pours very dark brown with one finger of tan head. Multi-faceted aroma of sweet dark chocolate, coffee, port, raisin and plum. Palate is decent but kind of thin and fizzy for an Imp Stout. A bit sticky in finish, as well as a little drying. Taste is mostly chocolate-dominated, supported a bit by some of the other aromatic elements but mostly just chocolate and alcohol with a bit of char. Features quite an alcohol burn. Pretty good but kind of just average for the style.

22 oz. bottle. Deep ruby/brown that clearly lets light through, produces a large, light yellowish tan head. Lots of caramel in the aroma with lesser contributions of chocolate and some burned sugar. Smooth, medium body, gently carbonated, a little thin on the palate for the style, some light astringency. Flavor echoes the aroma with substantial caramel sweetness up front. Some peppery bite comes through at the finish, but is not at all assertive. This beer was pleasant enough, but didn’t have the oomph behind it that I expect from an impy stout.

22 oz bottle via LS. Pours almost black with mahogany highlights. Average size dense tan head. Nose is roasty/smokey with mocha notes. Taste starts with some vanilla, some roasted malts, some chocolate, some coffee, and finishes with a nice complex mocha that lingers into the aftertaste. A tiny bit of smokiness in there as well..There are some citrus hops as well but they are fairly subdued. Moderate carbonation. medium body. Alcohol very well-hidden for 9.5% abv...This is a very nice drinkable complex Imp Stout. Not over the top like most are..this is easy to drink but extremely tasty. Medium body, silky mouthfeel like a nice oatmeal stout...Think Alesmith Speedway Stout with less coffee and more roastiness....Pretty close to perfect. P.S. The bottle says ’Nitrogen conditioned’..not sure what that means since there is no widget....but it does seem to have a vry nice mouthfeel, so maybe they are onto something?

Bottle acquired via dchmela...THANKS DAVE!!! Quite surprised by just how good this beer was. Dark smoky bitter chocolate and coffee in the nose. Dark mahogany pour with ruby red edges and a solid khaki head that never fully leaves. Full flavored molasses, roasted malt, and espresso. Wish I could get more of this!!!