Mendocino Black Eye Ale

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Hopland, California USA

2009 Bottle - Pours a thin dk brown with a large beige head...aroma is dk malt and olives, light fruit with some roast as well...flavour is sweet and thin, charred wood, grain, sweet malt...not a sticky beer by any means, but no component dries this brew out, so the normal sugar level goes unchallenged by any of the other ingredients...finish is watery and tame...I don’t get the motive...

650 ml bottle from Henry’s. Pours a dark brown color with amber highlights when held to a light. The head is light khaki colored and ample with fair retention and some lacing. The nose is earthy with roasted malts and some nutty hops. The flavor is dirt and caramel with some biter hops and an abundance of brown sugar. The palate was just a bit thinner than I would have preferred with lively carbonation. The finish was long and sweet. Overall: A good value for 2.99 a bomber.

Pour dark reddish brown. Nice Porter. Easy to drink and very pleasant. Would definitely have again. Yum.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, and a hint of miscellaneous household cleaner. Poured brown/mahogany/ruby in color with a small, dense, tan head that lasted throughout. Clear. Sparkling. Fair lacing. Flavor is light to medium bitter. Tastes of roasted malts, chocolate, slight tar, slight caramel, and a hint of smoke. Medium body. Dry texture. Average carbonation. Roasted malt and chocolate finish is dry.

Pours a glassy, deep reddish brown. Big puffy head, like an ice cream float. Looks like dark Coca-Cola with foam. Lace collapses early. Aroma is heavy strong ale alcohol smell with undertones of dark grape. Heavy strong ale at first, deeper sweet and roasted porter aroma underneath. Really layered smell. Taste is a sweet strong/special ale with a hint of dark grape or liqueur. A bit too cherry sweet for my liking, but the bitter does help. Still, just too sweet for me. The feel is syrupy like cherry juice. A little dry at the end but felt inappropriate for style. Overall it’s not that balanced. It’s overly sweet with only a bitter accent. Pleasant enough, but not that memorable.

Dark brownish black with a minimal tan head, very short. It smells like alcohol and tastes like alcohol despite the 6.5% ABV. It also seems to have a malty quality I usually detect in barleywines with an aftertaste like your standard stout. Carbonation is prickly on the tongue. This is a good blend and a very good value. This bottle can;t be more than a year old because I didn’t see it on the shelves when I was at this particular store last year. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 07-11-2007 15:17:59

Dark ruby. Medium creamy, tan head. Aroma: Caramel, roasted malt. Flavor: Chocolate, roast coffee. Dry hop finish.