Deschutes Black Butte XXI

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

Name: Black Butte XX
Date: October 16, 2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Appearance: black, wispy tan head
Aroma: sweet chocolate a bourbon aroma with lots of oakyness, vanilla sweetness, roasted and coffee
Body: creamy body
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, lots of bourbon sweetness, big roasted and coffee character kicks in to turn it into a roasty stout, fleeting touch of alcohol in the finish, well balanced complex array of flavors

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+ /4

Date: August 08, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Ticker
Appearance: black, wispy tan head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet dark roasted aroma, mello sweet bourbon, dark fruits, light oak, dark chocolate
Flavor: rich roasted flavor, bourbon sweetness, lots of oak, bitterness follows the oak with a bit of the dark roast, sweet dark caramel comes in to balance the strong oak

Date: November 21, 2009
Mode: bottle
Source: cellar tasting
Aroma: picking up a touch of hot peppery character in the aroma
Flavor: picking up more roasted character in the flavor leaving a bigger bitter presence

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

Near black and oily-looking. Big aroma of coffee, light chocolate, and light bourbon. Big, fat, tangy brew with lots of coffee, some chocolate, thick dark malts, light raisins. Finishes sweet, slightly fruity and reatively beany.

Draught at the Freakin’ Frog, Las Vegas
Black color, with generous brown creamy head. Strange brew, with flavors of coffee, medicines, liquorice, but all together rather interesting. The body is quite strong and with some sweetness; the final quite balanced and without the ashtray feeling of many Imperial Stouts. Pleasant.

Black with medium beige head. Sweet with very hard roasted malt and coffee notes. Sweet flavor with hard roasted malt, coffee and a bitter finish. Somewhat over done.

(22oz bottle, thanks acrdz) Medium tan head atop brown-black body. Aroma is medium sweet, smoke/roast, some cocoa, alcohol. Taste is medium sweet, smoke, alcohol, some cocoa, roast. Medium-full body.

From the Bottle at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting, Wynkoop Brewery 25/09/2009 Big coffee roast aroma. Small white head. Black strong in alcohol and a little rich on the palate with a hint of dryness and bitterness in a crisp coffee roast finish.

Courtesy of After4ever, thanks Tom! It is pitch black with a huge, light brown and creamy head. The aroma has sweetness and notes of licorice, coffee, wood and vanilla. The flavour has sweetness and light notes of bourbon is the first expression. It also has notes of licorice, wood, coffee, chocolate and the bitter, dry finish has some peppery alcohol.

Bottle @ LCRBM 2008. Licorice, salt, butter and coffee in the aroma. Roast, coffee, plums in the sugary sweet flavor. Very nice, surprisingly drinkable beer.