Eel River Triple Exultation

Brewed by Eel River Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Fortuna, California USA

Tasting at the Keg and Barrell, nice red color with little to no head. Some malt and caramel but the tast just didn’t do it for me.

Taste 2/9 Bottle. Looks: Deep caramel body with a thin top. Aroma: Booze, dark fruits, sweet malt and some citrus. Taste: Boozy and malty with a hoppy finish. I don’t really like it that much.

This shit sucks. It is a carbon-copy of my second extract homebrew where I thought it would be a good idea to freestyle the recipe boiling 7lbs of extract in 2 gallons and throwing random amounts of palisade leafs in whenever the fuck I felt like it while I oversteeped by 3x the called for Crystal malt because I wanted to pump-up the malt mouthfeel . Recently finished the 48th bottle of the burnt caramel, soapy POS chewy grained sonnofabitch and was happy to never have to taste such a waste of time and good ingredients... then I cracked open this wunderbier at home on a sickday and proceeded to ruin my viewing of the new Eastwood Classic,Unforgiven contemplating whether to cut bait and pour it out or bite the bullet and hope it wouldn’t taste too bad puking it up later that evening. Ugh.

Somewhat darker color than expected, but lovely head (just the right amount) and a rather lovely projection of its aroma. Great balanced flavor, with a titch of hops but a rounded maltiness, spice, very moderate alcohol, a bit of fruit. Went extremely well with a bowl of moderately-spiced chili. Very well done beer.

(bottle - 22 oz) Ruby red color with a thin off-white head. Aroma is rich and earthy with hints of caramel, plums, wine, chocolate, and some hops. Very complex. Flavor begins with a mixture of caramel and dark fruits giving way to a smooth and malty middle and a lightly bitter and hoppy finish with a big alcohol punch. Aftertaste is bitter and lingers.

Bottle from bevmo. I thought it was a tripel when I bought it; I guess I should read the lable closer. Doesn’t matter as I would have bought it anyway. Poured a nice looking reddish-caramel brown with an off white head. Aroma was unique, yet familiar. Fruit, biscuit-bread, earth/dirt and caramel. Flavor was really nice and complex. Again it tasted familiar, but unique enough. Flavors of toasted biscuit, caramel, earth, wood, molasses with some floral, earthiness in the finish. This really coated the palate, almost sticking to it. When I drank it it felt like I was inhaling something; could be the alcohol, but it wasn’t extremely hot on the throat. Flavor didn’t mesh as much as it could have and the finish was a bit rough. Still solid.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs: Creates a soft mahogany filtered with shades of orange color and is topped by a thick sticky head. Aroma is very floral with hops, caramelized malt and sweet bread such as donuts or French toast. There is same to be said about the flavors with its plump and chewy malt and sweetened caramel backbone. There are also minor notes of floral yet bitter hops that give a much fuller body and actually allow life in what could have been a malty mess. Certainly a hearty drink and with a twenty-two ounce bottle enough ABV to do the trick, I still find this beer to be average.

The more I sample Old Ales, the more I enjoy them. This was no exception. Mainly malty aroma with hints of hops. Flavor is sweet...caramel and toffee, with a definite alcohol presence.