Deschutes Black Butte XXI

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

22oz bottle from Jonpol. thx for sending a few bottles my way....thick black porridge pour with a moderate yet substantial tan head that hung around for a bit... aroma of roasted malt, coffee, and just a hint of yeast. not too much in the way or bourbon or oak but that would remain consistent with what i found with the abyss.... clavors were of thick chocolate, molasses, roasted malt, and coffee. finished off with a bitter-roast coffee component. thick, full, and chewy mouthfee. pretty good but gets old after awhile

Pours a dark black with tan head. Another great dessert beer, one of many that I have had recently. Very sweet and chocolaty. The aroma is a little to boozy, but time should help that out. Cocoa, coffee, sweet toasty malt, creamy chocolate, vanilla,and definite yet restrained bourbon and oak. Very nice creamy mouthfeel. This is a nice beer and should age well.

Pours black with a creamy brown head, Pleasant chocolate, vanilla, leather, caramel aroma. Big smooth body. Flavors of coffee, cocoa and vanilla. Has a nice acrid edge. Relatively low but lingering bitterness and mellow hop flavor. Quite good overall but a touch disjointed.

[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.

Pitch black color, light brown head. Charcoal, marshmallows, dark chocolate, big coffee beans, vanilla, dark chocolate, marshmallows, big espresso mouth. WOW, the espresso beans REALLY jump out. Fun stuff.

Dark brown/black, with a brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and a touch of bourbon. Flavor is chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, alcohol, and smaller amounts of bourbon and hops. Really good, but a bit more bourbon would have made it better.

Thanks to 17thfloor for sharing. Opaque black with creamy small brown head. Peppery coffee aroma with dry roasted malt, dirty, really different, like nothing I had before, a little charcoal and chocolate, a little oxidzed cherry. Flavor is sweet cherry with coffee, a little woody, alc, a little oxidized, raspberry, a little cloying, bakers chocolate, a little hops, interesting but a little hairspray as well. Medium and light carbonation. Really sweet and alc is slightly off, this has a lot of really good merits though.

Well allright. Black, medium viscosity, tan quicksand head. Ample mocha aroma of equal parts coffee and dark chocolate, I’ve had the Abyss recently and get some subliminal molasses too. This bottle is the XXI and I think it could use more time. The bourbon and coffee are awkward in each others presence and refuse to mingle. Cocoa cannot be found in way of flavor, only a slick syrupy texture. This beer is clearly going to develop into greatness, if there was any young heat it’s gone now. Chewy. And the next release of Abyss is around the corner. Niiiice.