Eel River Brewing Company's Organic Porter

Eel River Brewing Company is the United States first Organic Brewery in the United States and hails from Fortuna, California. It started up in 1994 and since then they've expanded into a brewery and a bar and grille (has horseshoe pits), having to eventually move their brewery out of Fortuna and into Scotia, California. Since then, their output has doubled and supplies to over 20 States and Canada and Mexico. In Scotia, their brewery runs 100% on biomass renewable energy, has their own water treatment facility and, shit, even the leftover grains from their beer, they feed to their cows, which they slaughter for beef for their bar and grille. These guys are insane! Even their tap handles are made from 100% recycled materials, bought locally, and made with soy based ink. Hippies.

Their porter has an ABV of 5.8% and is a shitstorm of five different malts. The most prominent of those, such a most porters are cocoa and coffee. This actually has a little more combination than I like for a porter. It has a nice, rich taste that coats the mouth and throat with a chocolatey rainstorm of deliciousness but, for me, is a little too carbonated. It has a mild bitterness (like my ex-wife) but has a taste that makes me want to come back for more (unlike my ex-wife....and kids). I bought this double-deuce for $6 which is a little higher than I'd like to pay for 22oz bottle of hooch and the taste isn't really anything to write home about. The aroma is pretty good, a sweet scent, which you would think would be a little bitter given the taste of the beer. The smell exceeds the taste by far. Also, I think the label is pretty gay, like, in a bad way. It looks like something a 7th grader would design in his graphics arts class. The Eels River seal looks pretty cool though.

I respect the efforts of the brewery, that's for sure, but the beer's taste isn't anything too special. It's better than your run of the mill porters. But you can get a growler of something local or a Yuengling porter for less and a little more tasty. If I found 22oz's for under $4 I'd probably pick this up again; that being said it did ship to California to Massachusetts.

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 3/10
Curb Appeal: 4/10

Overall: 4.75/10