Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

22oz bottle via trade with kenb - Poured black with a nice tan head good chocolate, coffee, and some roasted malts in the nose but also enough piney hops to let you know they were there. Flavor is quite roasty in the fore, that gives way to some chocolate in the middle, a hint of coffee, and some dark fruits before the somewhat bitter finish. Good carbonation and full body give this a great mouthfeel.. Very nice beer for number 2100

Bottle from bevmo. Dark brown with a sweet malty aroma. Watery palate. Earthy caramel taste. Not great.

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.

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.

22oz bomber, thanks to TURDFERGUSON for this bottle. pour thin pitch black with small tan head. wow the nose and flavor really reminds me of some mediocre impy but i can’t figure it out. nose is has a very roasted staleness to it. not very good or complex. flavor has your basic roasted chocolate notes but it comes off feeling pretty stale. not a horrible taste but pretty boring. mouthfeel is way to thin but alcohol is very well hidden. carbination is really low. i’m doubting the 9.5% here and thinking it’s more like 7. i liked this more than my rating but’s it’s just a poor example of the style. taste more like a sweet stout.

Bottle; poured a dark reddish/brown with a light brown head. Aroma was actually really good; booze, caramel, roasted malt, fruit, cocoa and molasses. I really liked the aroma. If only the flavor was as good! Not saying it is bad, but it just didn’t live up the nose. Pretty easy to drink, as the flavors were somewhat mellow and not hugely assertive.

2/09/2008: Eel River Raven’s Eye Imperial Stout is very dark brown in color (reminds me somewhat of the color of black walnut wood actually) with a thin brown veil. The aroma is rich and shows some depth. In includes roasted and caramelized malts with hints of char and vanilla. The flavor is dominated by roasted malt, char, and expresso along with some dark chocolate in the finish. Overall the flavor is slightly sweeter than expected, but very good overall. This beer has a well-balanced flavor, a medium to medium-full body, and is fairly smooth. This is a tasty Imperial Stout that isn’t overly sweet, overly dry, overly roasty or overly bitter...

1 pint, 6 fl. oz. bottle (9.5% alcohol by volume) via trade with 5000. Thanks again Andre! Rating #123 for this beer...

22 ounce bomber purchased at Nugget on Covell in Davis, CA. Aroma is rather roasted with a lot of anise present. Light coffee hints are also there, but the anise seems a little dominating. Some veggie notes are also in the nose. Eh. Opaque black body with a smallish brown head present, which dissipates faster than I would like. Sweet, malty, chocolate flavors are present to start. A little anise-like in the middle with some spritziness present. Finishes relatively roasted and a bit swampy. This is ok for what it is, but a little boring for my tastes. $6 I certainly won’t spend again. What’s up with them releasing this in May? Most people crave the style in the heart of winter, not late spring.