Feature Beer Friday: Eel River's Triple Exultation Barleywine

By Eric Ducote

Good morning again readers!  I hope everyone has been having a fantastic summer now that the "vacation" aspect is coming to a close.  The weather aspect... we'll still have a few months I'm sure.  I hinted at this week's Feature Beer already, and sure enough, here's the Triple Exultation Barleywine Style Ale from Eel River Brewing. This beer is the 2018 edition that I also found for a cheap $5.99 for a bomber at Rouse's, and it comes in at 9.7% and 80 IBU.  I talked a bit about Eel River in last week's post, so I'll jump straight into the review.

Eel River's Triple Exultation Barleywine style Ale

My first thought was that this is a bit on the dark side for a barleywine, I'm more used to seeing a copper to deep red color and this beer is more on the brown end of the spectrum. Upon first sip, there's not much flavor, and this comes across more like a big amber ale than a barleywine to me, but as it warmed up the beer opened up a great deal.  The barleywine characteristics started to come out like toffee and caramel notes from the strong malt backbone.  The hop presence was strong and bitter but not overpowering.  

After pulling this beer up on Eel River's page I see that it has previously been marketed as an Old Ale, so that makes more sense why I would initially feel it was on the bland side for a barleywine.  By the time I was done with the bomber I was really enjoying the Triple Exultation, especially for the price, so I'd recommend finding one, but be sure to let it warm up a few degrees before diving in. 

Cheers everyone!       

Feature Beer Friday: Eel River's Raven's Eye Imperial Stout

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone on another beautiful Friday!  Today's feature beer is coming from Eel River Brewing out of Humboldt County, California.  Eel River operates two facilities out there, a brewing and packaging facility as well as a brewpub and tasting room.  Eel River Brewing has been around for a good while, over 20 years, and has been distributed locally in limited quantities for many years as well.  I've never seen any of their flagships pop up, but I do often see the Raven's Eye Imperial Stout on shelves and used to drink plenty of it, always finding it to be one of the best offerings of the style regularly available.  I saw bombers of the 2018 Raven's Eye and the 2018 Triple Exultation Barleywine at Rouse's for $5.99 each, I didn't hesitate to grab one of each.  You can probably guess now what next week's feature beer is going to be... 

The Raven's Eye Imperial Stout is listed at 9.5% abv and 28.5 IBU, described by Eel River as, "Bold and creamy, with hints of dark chocolate and espresso, this roasty brew is balanced by aromas reminiscent of molasses and plums. Warm, festive and strong, Raven's Eye is also quite smooth."

Eel River's Raven's Eye Imperial Stout

The pour is exactly what an Imperial Stout should look like, a viscous dark brown with a frothy off-white head.  The aroma is boozy with chocolate flavors and hints of plum.  The taste is similar, roasty with more chocolate notes and definitely dark fruit flavors.  (I actually wrote those tasting notes in my phone before I looked at Eel River's own description!)  This is a full-bodied full-flavored fantastic Imperial stout at a great price.

If you see this one around town, don't hesitate, and if you see it at as good of a price as I found, you might want to buy one or two to age as well, as I could see this getting even better over time.  Cheers!