I have been following this Meme for a while, but this month I finally jumped in, The Sessions. The Sessions are first Friday beer bloggers write a post on a particular topic, this month organic beer. I selected the Eel River Organic Porter. The reason I have lagged on this meme is not a lack of interest, but because First Friday is Artwalk. The local homebrew shop offers homebrew at a local gallery and I usually help so it's always a busy day this month I planned ahead.

It's funny for a town like Flagstaff as progressive and pro-organic as many of the citizens like to think themselves, it was damn hard to find an organic beer. The local organic foods store didn't have any, but that probably was more of a lack of an alcohol license than interest. Eventually though after numerous stops I stopped in Pay N Take and was able to find Eel River's Organic Porter.

Considering all the panic over hops and malt issues recently the beer was well within the normal range for craft beer prices so that was an unexpected surprise.

The Porter has a deep opaque ruby brown, near black in color. Nice roast notes dominate the aroma, but I did notice at first a bit of a buttery note that quickly faded. The head was slightly brown color, but it seemed to have low head retention. Roasted malt flavor dominated but the highly carbonated nature of the beer lighten the body sufficiently that it disguised the beer's body. There was not detectable hop aroma nor flavor, but that is to be expected for the beer style.

The beer had a very pleasant character and quite well balanced. If I were more into Robust Porters I could see myself drinking this beer. That the beer is organic is really secondary and the only reminder is when you look at the label.

As my first official session beer Eel River Organic Porter was a great start and I look forward to future sessions. For more on Organic Beers check out the Beer Activist blog.