Deschutes Black Butte XXI

Tap @ their PDX pub... Poured black with a small, creamy, beige head. Roasted grains and mocha on the nose. Thick, fizzy palate and a low carbonation. Smoked coffee and roasted malts in the initial flavor with a thick chocolate syrup and boozy finish. Like a liquid dessert.
Earlier Rating: 7/10/2008 Total Score: 4.3
Tap @ Bailey’s Taproom... Poured black with a brown head. Aroma is roasted with toasty malt and coffee and chocolate. Had your usual dark porter flavors, like roasted malt-coffee-carame-chocolat-nutty characteristics, but everything was super exaggerated and especially delicious. Goes down super easy for 11%. Kudos to Deschutes, this shows they are still in the game.

Had on tap at Deschutes brewery in Portland. Pours Dark black color with small light brown head. Aroma and taste of dark chocolate, coffee, espresso. Coats the palate very well with great carbonation and great after taste. Caramel sweetness with a little oak present. This was really awesome. I enjoyed this! I took a bottle to go as well.

Courtesy of northernbrews

Bottle: The aroma consists of chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, and faint roasted coffee. It pours a dark brown, virtually black, with a small tan head. The flavor starts with lots of chocolate and caramel. The finish has some light-moderate roasted coffee, a hint of fruit, and some alcohol. Full bodied a slick mouthfeel.

Bottle courtesy of Sparky27. Poured black with a thick, creamy brown head. Aroma is burnt malt with notes of rasin, coffee, and ash. Medium bodied with soft carbonation and a somewhat oily mouthfeel. Flavor is quite sweet, lots of rasin, tobacco, burnt malts and a touch of bourbon. Tangy, boozy finish. Slightly unbalanced, very sweet and tangy.

On-Tap @ Portland Brewpub poured into Snifter glass. Pours a clear, clean onyx black with nice mahogany edges with a thin bubbly mocha colored head that fairly quickly dissolves into a thin ring around the glass. The aroma has a strong presence of semi-sweet dark chocolate with black roasted coffee, booze and some vanilla notes. The flavor is sweet chocolate upfront with some more coffee as well as toffee and cinnamon with a nice soft long-lasting bitterness. XX is a full to medium bodied beer that is a bit slick and oily. This is beer touches on some fantastic flavors that are all blended very well. As far as the 11% alcohol goes, its fairly undetectable except for in the aroma. This beer is damn delicious.

Truly Stunning craftsmanship of a beer. This beer can and will rival the abyss. Pours dark brown with a nice thin tan head. Aroma is very roasty caramel and chocolate with the hint of a morning java trip. Mouth feel is intense with full body warmness and very balanced carbonation. Flavor is as complex and most rewarding of any imperial porter I have had. The bourbon hint is upfront and not over powering. The palette is greeted with lots of coffee and intense dark chocolate flavor. This finish is surprising bitter to give you the sense that the hops were carefully planned on this one. WOW!!! I can’t wait to ages this beer.

Many thanks to drgonzo for cracking open this amazing brew. Thick, burnt brown/black body with a frothy brown head and streaky lacing. In your face aroma of bitter dark chocolate, creamy coffee and layers upon layers of burnt, roasted, toasted malts. Plenty of molasses along with some fig and raisin notes. Viscous with a mellow creaminess and just an ever so faint alcohol bite. Drinks slowly and sticks with you. A solid bitterness helped to even things out. Flavor mirrors the intense aroma but the hops are much more noticeable. Big, bold and wonderful. A bountiful, beautiful brew.

Absolutely in love with this one. Expresso grinds, dark chocolate,vanilla, roasty and toasty. A bit of bourbon and fruit, oak is noticeable on the finish. Strong alcohol warmth with a thick, creamy, syrupy body.