Deschutes Black Butte XXI

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

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.

Thanks to durhambeer for sharing this. Pours a dark black brew with a tan head. The nose was sweet, some coffee, bakers chocolate. Didn’t get any oak or bourbon from the nose or flavor. The flavor was lightly smokey, more bitter from the coffee and chocolate than I would have liked, some roast and some waxy hop flavor. Overall I feel like this one is pretty overrated.

Bottle courtesy of rallison. Dark, heavy, and unique. The coffee, cocoa, and bourbon blended well so that none were dominant. Definitely malty but less roasty than expected. A little salty, and I swear I have in my tasting notes "pina coloda," but this was the last beer in a long tasting, so maybe my senses were hallucinating. This was not what I expected from an 11% beer, but I really enjoyed it.

Bottle shared by durhambeer - thanks, Bob! Thick, grainy, yeasty pour. I was expecting a lot of roasts and so forth, but there was something oddly bready in there, with a slight tang to it no less. I kept getting flashes of tapioca so that’s what I’m putting down here, but I also couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Certainly there’s plenty of chocolate, coffee, and molasses too, giving the brew a bittersweet quality that emerges along with oak when it warms up. Pretty good stuff, but nothing super special to me.

Bottle. Thanks to Thaddeus for this gem. Black as oil with a foamy brown head (even during small pours). An extremely rich and inviting aroma with coffee, chocolate and a touch of oak. Silky and smooth on the palate. Sweet but well balanced with bitter chocolate and hops. A real treat.