Deschutes The Abyss

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Bend, Oregon USA

Pours dark as night with a light brown head. Chocolate, coffee, dark fruits and oak all play apart in the aroma. Sweet to bitter. Flavors are licorice, chocolate, molasses, and alcohol. Wonderful mouth feel.

Wow, had this on tap at Beerapaloosa mardi gras. It is oil black with a great looking frothy tan foam head. Aromas of coffee, toast, smoke waif upwards. The tastes run through a variety of flavors - coffee, chocolate, smoke, vanilla oak, molasses, slight bitterness but overall incredibly smooth with all the flavors well blended. All I wish is if I could find more. There is always next year.

Second bottle I’ve picked up, from of all places, Fred Meyers. Only getting better on the second gander. Amazing aroma, dark impenetrable black appearance, rich tan head, fine palate especially considering the alcohol, well worth a try. Very curious to see how this would age.

22oz, 2007. This came in the mail today from a pre-sell, which I was told I was too late for, so what a nice surprise. Opaque brown pour with a dark tan head. Bitter coffee, chocolate, cocoa, dark fruit, hops, and faint bourbon and lots of oak. Alcohol comes through in this one for sure. Sour cherries and piney hops - more coffee and chocolate. Big bitter finish. Nice beer, the licorice and molasses are there, but subtle. Definitely worth seeking out.

22oz bottle, 2007 reserve. Pours pitch black, with a big tan head. Big roasted malt aroma with oak, vanilla, chocolate and some molasses. Roasted espresso and chocolate are initial flavors, and are gradually joined by oak and finally some hop bitterness. Long, bittersweet chocolate finish. Silky smooth, but the body is a bit thinner than I expected.

newly bottled 07 batch. Pours black with a decent sized tan head. Aroma is very roasty with some chocolate. Flavor is very roasty as well. Chocolate. vanilla, coffee, smoke, and just a bit of the barrel aged flavor. Finishes creamy, little carbonation. Alcohol well hidden. Very nice.

2008 bottle. Very dark black pour with some light brown head. Aroma is very raosted, chocolate, some wood. Flavor is very roasted malt, a little meaty and burnt. Kind of strong, but not that good tasting. I am just tired of beers full of crappy flavors and barrel aging.

Bottle; last time Jon spilled some of it on me. Poured a really nice looking black with a good sized brown head. Liked the aroma better this time. More molasses and oak. Same general impressions as before, but i liked it alot more. Good complexity. I think this beer was too deep into a tasting the last time I had it. 3.7 to 3.9. 100th rating; Bottle courtesy of the clumsy golubj; thanks alot dickhead. Poured a dark black, about as black as possible Aroma of roasted meat, roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and caramel. Pretty complex beer. Oak, bourbon, roasted malt, chocolate, caramel, molasses, and hops. Almost too assertive in the flavor. Definitely a beer to sip, as mention in the profile. Finish wasn’t too good. Well done, but my rating may be a backlash agains the generally rated overated style.