Deschutes Black Butte XX

Bomber bottle for $12 at Wine Stop. Pours a deep dark brown. Aroma of coffee, roasts, sugar and molasses. Surprisingly sweet and pungent aroma. Flavor is initially – to me – massively syrupy and sweet. I tasted licorice, molasses, brown sugar, and some baking chocolate. Mid palate remains sweet and strong, but with a bit of coffee starting to come to the forefront. Finish is just an intense mixture of flavors, there is no way around this. There is dark smooth chocolate. There is a rich espresso. There is an undeniable sweet molasses flavor. And there are roasts. Wow! I really can’t say much more, this is a BIG beer. Overall, this is something very special, although I must raise my minor qualms: once this beer warms, it just gets too intense. Too syrupy and big sweet. I actually enjoyed this more when it was a bit chilled. Undeniably a memorable offering though.

At Vero. Deep black, with light tan head. Brilliant, jewel-like aromas with loads of coffee bean. Lovely palate. Rich roasted coffee with loads of complexity. Spices, star anise, vanilla.

On tap at Churchills. I have been eager to try this. When I first heard about it, it poked it’s head in the top50, and is slowly retreating back. I was planning to trade big for it, then it popped up in San Diego stores. Expecting a quick sell out, I asked WeeHeavySD to pick a bottle for me, while I was out of town. Here it is a month later and it stills in reasonable volume in many stores. Not as a hot commodity as Abyss. I heard one or two rumors that this was better than Abyss, but that was slowly replaced with Abyss is better. I traded off my one bottle, as a bonus, without trying XX, when I saw it pop up on tap at Pizza Port. The line was long, so I waited a couple of days, but then it was gone, so I missed out here. Figuring it would show up elsewhere on tap, I waited and sure enough Churchill’s put it on for the Stone 12th Anniversary where it has lasted at least 3 days, maybe more. I was lucky to see Mary Jo working today. I’ve tried Abyss on tap at the same place in the past. Abyss was awesome, and I went back for another glass. Black Butte XX is not the same...not as good. It was good, but I really didn’t look forward to drinking a whole glass. Small tan head. Small bubble head. Initial taste was an illusion of sour, but I think it was more a shock to my palate. Quickly, the taste becomes lots of chocolate in the nose and taste. Heavy body. Leans sweet. Somewhat roasty.

Head is initially small, frothy/fizzy, light brown, fully diminishing. Body is dark brown to black (non-opaque, flashlight tested). Aroma is moderately malty (roasted grain, chocolate, husks), lightly hoppy (grapefruit, resin), with notes of alcohol, vanilla, whiskey, wood. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Ho hum, not bad. A bit rough, not very refined, kinda ordinary, poor mouthfeel.

Sampled @ RBSG, courtesy DA, I believe. Black pour, sparse dark tan head. Alcohol, light roast, coffee, some oxidation, caramel, roast on aroma. Taste had a sharp alcohol edge to it, kind of out-muscled the roast characters. Kind of all over the place.