Deschutes Black Butte XXI

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Bend, Oregon USA

Dark, dark brown pour with a two-finger dark tan head that has good retention. Beer smells amazing, and I’m unfortunately drinking this out of a standard pint glass - need to invest in a snifter! Aroma is chocolate, coffee, vanilla, pepper, oak, alcohol sweetness, so complex! Flavor is dark chocolate, vanilla from the oak, coffee bitterness, finishing dry and bitter. Mouthfeel is medium heavy body with medium low carbonation and alcohol is well-hidden. Back to appearance: legs on the side of the glass from the 11% abv. Great beer overall!

Appearance: Pours a midnight brown with a frothy pinstripe and swirls at the top. Aroma: Coffee grinds, wet paint, cocoa nibs, licorice, and a bit of booze and spicy hops. Taste: Coffee, chocolate, bourbon notes with vanilla and caramel, some peaty malt notes as well as some spice warmth. Mouthfeel: Silky, velvety, rich. Overall: The best beer I have had by Deschutes to date, far better than Abyss. Most definitely a dessert/cigar bear. I think it would compliment a nice scoop of French Vanilla ice cream.

Sampled at Seattle IBF - "Mystery Beer." Poured a heavy dark brown with a smallish head. Roasty sweet - coffee and molasses on the nose. Like a slightly more drinkable version of The Abyss. This one had all the flavors right, but wasn’t so thick and chewy. Full-bodied, hides the 11% extremely well. One of the highlights of the festival for me - really, really good.

[Vintage 2008 of the XX} Poured from a keg, contained most qualities of the brew. Coffee and a strong chocolate profile, the body seemed to have thinned out with a complex boozy finish.

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.

2008 Edition 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.