Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

Pours dark brown with a stubborn tan head. Smells of chocolate, caramel, molasses, honey. Tastes chocolatey and roasty with a nice spicy compliment on the finish.

Bottle shared by eyedrinkale. Deep brown-black beer. Aroma is light and cocoaish. Softly sweet with a nice chocolate syrup flavour. Sweet with a lightly earthy flavour. It’s quite light for an impy, but it’s a decent stout.

Had this at the brewery in June 2003. Served in nitrogen. Black with some light at the glass edge. Medium tan brown head. Close to no sensible aroma, with a big nutty coffee flavor, very smooth for an imperial, and with a pleasent espresso/alcohol flavor towards the end. Tastes like a mocha with too much amaretto or rum added. I would like to see the 9.5% ABV lessened to allow the flavors to be more pronounced rather than trumped.

Bomber from Sam’s in Downers grove, Illinois: This pours an opaque dark brown with some clear mahogany at the edges. The yellowed tan head quickly collapses to a film, then a slender ring. It has aroma of burnt malt, cold coffee, anise, and a smidgeon of bittersweet chocolate. This seems a bit thin for an Imperial Stout, but that’s almost refreshing after the many heavy, syrupy brews that I’ve had lately. The flavor reflects the aroma except that there’s a touch of buttery dark toffee in there and finally a hit of the strong ABV. The finish is darkly sweet with a low alcohol burn. Okay.

Dark brown with a moderate tight bubbled light tan head that settles to a thin lid rather quickly. Dark fruits dominate the aromas. Some dark chocolate and roasted malts infused with a touch of alcohol are also present. Somewhat simple, but yet quite calming, a thing many stout and especially imperial stout seem to lack. Full lightly oily feel. Cocoa and roasted malt dominate the flavors. Long singed earth and licorice linger. Traces of alcohol in the flavor and the fact that my stomach now has a mild burn. A nice, not overbearing imperial stout. Thanks Andre.

Bottle: Black, tan head and nice lacing. Nose of nag champa, bright roast and alcohol, some coffee. Nice mellow caramel and light cocoa character. Clean and balanced. Good!

Draft @ Eel River. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty chocolate aroma with some alcoholic hints. Warming roasted malty chocolate and coffee flavor. Has a long warming roasted malty espresso finish with some hints of chocolate in the aftertaste aswell.

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.