Deschutes Black Butte XXI

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

Getting notebook online. Pours a good black with a disappearing tan head. Strong chocolate and coffee nose. Flavors of darker chocolate, pretty strong alcohol and roasted malt. The oak seemed a little more subtle then I was expecting. Overall a good beer!

Bottle, shared by dchmela. Pours a dark thick black with a tan head. Chocolate, vanilla, caramel sweetness on the nose. Big chocolate, roast, caramel, a bitter end, strange aftertaste with a lot of burnt roast in the finish. High carb for such a big beer, kept it from being too chewy.

Bottled. Big sweet aroma, water chestnut, mini corn, roast, malt sweetness are present. Chewy and vegetal, big and brash flavor, a nice pungent charred finish. Thick but relatively light in the mouth. This really reminds me of stirfry, which in this case isnt so bad. A nice beer.

22oz bomber no date from BOLTZ7555, thanks Jason. Black with a one finger tan head and pretty good retention. Aroma has lots of cold coffee and dark chocolate up front with some pleasant bourbon and brown sugar notes in the middle and then some light alcohol and roast in the backend. Flavor is slightly more bourbony but still far from being too much. More roast and oak are also present. Some sweet raisin mixes well with the brown sugar component and the aforementioned coffee and dark chocolate are the same as the aroma. The finish is dry with alcohol not being too present, and bitterness peaked around a 3 1/2. Never got ashy, which was nice. Full thick body with light to moderate smooth carbonation. This was a really good beer that I wouldn’t mind having more of, but wouldn’t have a place to keep it.

Bottle from Sparky27, thanks Eric. Pours black with an off-white head. The aroma initially is not that pleasant, with a lot of spent coffee grounds, green bell pepper, and a decent amount of roasted malt. As this warms however, the aroma changes to scents of cherry, dark chocolate, berry skin, vanilla, wood, and oatmeal raisin cookies, which is a complete 180 from the initial aroma. The taste does not change, but it is good from the start, with flavors of wood, bourbon, considerable chocolate, dark roasted coffee, and roasted malt. The barrel character becomes more pronounced with warming, as flavors of vanilla and coconut are added. The 11 percent alcohol never appears. The finish is just awesome, with this lingering perfect finish of roasted malt, and there is never that offensive sourness or bitterness that can occur with some porters and stouts. This is pretty good.

Bottle LCRBM08. Literally black, no head to speak of. Leather, dried fruits and sweet caramel in the nose. Full bitter-sweet flavour, full bodied. Caramel, coffee and leather in the lingering bitter finish. Very well made brew........

Tastes even better than the original. Had it at Brouwers in Seattle at the Big Wood Fest 08. Pretty good beer, par for the course for Deschutes.

tap. Big Wood Festival. burned coffee and smoke. sweetish with a mildly bitter finish. A better version of the Butte, but not nearly as versatile and slightly out of balance as a result of the extra aging.