EEL RIVER BREWING’s “ORGANIC AMBER”

There may be a few of you who came to this blog from one of my music blogs, AGONY SHORTHAND (defunct) or DETAILED TWANG (on hiatus, I guess). So it won’t surprise you that even at my advanced age I’m still out there from time to time, hittin’ the clubs, living la vida loca with my homies, raging hard, slammin’ in the pit, stagediving and getting in fistfights, and then going to bed before 11:30pm if I can. In other words – I don’t really see that much live rocknroll anymore, but when I do, at least half the time it’s at The Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco. They always seem to book the weird-ass bands I like the most, so that’s where the action is for me. They even have a decent beer selection – they were one of the first local bars I tried PLINY THE ELDER at; RACER 5 is always on tap; BOONT AMBER’s always there, and sometimes there’s even a wild card beer. Me, I like a wild card. Except when I don’t. Except when said wild card is EEL RIVER ORGANIC AMBER, as it was the other night.

It just might be that organic beers are crap across the board, I don’t know. It sure seems that way, even though that wouldn’t really make sense now, would it? EEL RIVER BREWING brew up in Humboldt County, California, and you may recall we’ve got a soft spot for that area. Their ORGANIC AMBER appears to won a host of medals, but not in my stomach. It’s a medicinal, medium-thin, chalky-as-hell concoction, really a bit of a chore to enjoy, even with hundreds of decibels pounding at your unprotected ears on a Tuesday night. No flavor, no flavor at all. OK, the flavor is 100% malt, as if they forgot to even dust this thing with hops. (They say “balanced with a liberal dose” of hops, but I think they’re lying!!!!). As I’ve said before with organic beers, I truly want to believe. It’s just that this is another in a long line of clunkers for me. Sorry if that harshes on your mellow. 4/10.