Eel River Ravens Eye Imperial Stout

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

Very dark, cola looking and near black beer with a thin orange brown head. The aroma is sweet with some milk chocolate and prune. There is also some fresh cut wood. The taste has initially sweet milk chocolate and anise notes. In the finish, I got some light roasted coffee and lingering cocoa. The anise gets stronger the more you drink. Decent, but I would like a little more sweetness to balance the black licorice character, which quickly gets cloying.

Name: Raven’s Eye
Date: 04/11/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

black with ruby edges, wispy tan head, sweet roasted aroma with milk chocolate sweetness, creamy body, sweet dark chocolate flavor balanced with the roasted malts, nice milky sweetness, touch of dark fruit,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Bottle, from Cary Whole Foods. Good aroma. Sweet with roasty notes. A yeasty nuttiness, milk chocolate, coffee, little viney and peaty. Dark brown color, good head that faded slowly with nice lacing. Bittersweet flavor, like aroma though it has a more baking chocolate flavor than milk chocolate, little sulpur thing in there. Medium body, smooth oily mouthfeel, bitterdry finish. Alright, it had moments, palate was my favorite part. That’s kind of sad actually.

A medium bodied imperial stout. Black and low carbonation. Some roasted malt and a little bit sweet. Some chocolate. Medium quality for the style.

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.

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.

Bomber. Pours to a black body with a really tall and ultra creamy dark khaki head that looks rocky and has a nice lacing. The aroma is sweet milk chocolate syrup, crisp pale grains, and crisp chocolate grains. Some espresso coffee comes through. The flavor is chocolate malt and a seemingly organic graininess. Coffee and a dry roasted black patent malt. The palate is a bit thin but leaves a sticky coating dry feel.

22 oz bottle from Logan’s Pre-GABF party. Lots of dark brown head on this dark pour. Some roasty flavors, touches of coffee. Just Okay