A couple of friends traveled to the U.S. west coast and brought me back a bottle of some beer of which I had never heard. I LOVE that. It is one of the great upsides of being a beer guy. Your friends know you love good beer and want to bring you beer you have never tried. Plus, I think I have a particularly great batch of friends, as bringing beer home from a trip is not necessarily an easy thing.
This time the beer in question is Eel River Brewing Company, from Fortuna, California. This small craft brewery opened in 1995, and holds the distinction of being the first certified organic brewery in the U.S. I suspect that also means the first organic brewery in north America (but, as usual, the Americans don’t look north at what we are doing). Crannog Ales in Sorrento, B.C. is also certified organic, but from my reading I think Eel River received theirs first.
They brought me back a bottle of their porter. I opened it on a recent quiet evening, looking forward to an entirely new experience.
It pours a deep dark brown with accents of mahogany. It has a light tan head that quickly fades into a thin layer. The aroma has lots of coffee, some dark chocolate, plus a touch of nut and burnt almond (almost like the chocolate bar of that name). The flavour brings out chocolate, coffee, some dark fruit of fig and raisin and cherry, and maple syrup. It offers a silky impression. It is quite sweet upfront and dries out significantly at the end. There are some tinny hops in the finish, but mostly bitter dark chocolate.
Overall, I am a bit underwhelmed by the beer. It has some interesting qualities, but seems one-dimensional. It has chocolate and light bitter roast and that is about all. I think I am looking for a bit more malt base in a porter, and a more complex flavour mix overall.
True, this could be a travel shock issue – although I left it in my fridge for two weeks after receiving it, suggesting not . Maybe the bottle is old – I have no way of checking that. However, I think I am getting a reasonable facsimile of the intended beer. It is not poorly made, but I guess I was hoping for a bit more.
February 11, 2011 at 4:31 PM
I tried their Acai Berry Wheat – it was a decent, balanced fruit beer. Also nice to have a beer made with a fruit to which I don’t have much exposure. As for the organic angle – can’t say I would be able to tell the difference in the end product.
February 11, 2011 at 10:14 PM
Speaking of Porters, I picked up a couple bottles of what I’ve just learned(via the ‘net)is a Baltic Porter. So a bit of the unknown there, it’ll be my first Baltic. However it’s from a trusted brewery, Half Pints…their Pothole Porter. Thinking of maybe opening one tomorrow. Or R&B’s Raven Cream Ale. Possibly Dieu du Ciel’s Rigor Mortis…I’ve been looking forward to getting a few of those(& I have!)
February 14, 2011 at 4:51 PM
For organics in our market Fish Tale’s and they get there organic malt from Gambrinus in Armstrong, BC