Deschutes The Abyss

1-27-08 bottle (2006 and 2007 tasted side by side) at a mini tasting.
Both the 06 and 07 were very similar in ratings for me. The 06 had more vanilla in the aroma and flavor slightly, but the 07 stood out a little more overall - although nothing too distinguishable.
Motor oil black pour with spotted tan lacing from a nice tan head. Aroma is that of a sweet chocolate vanilla with caramel in there too. Strong chocolate and vanilla flavor. Palate is dreamy - so creamy and perfect. The texture and finish are incredible. One of the best beers of the style I’ve had - without a doubt!

Coutesy of Ungstrup. Pitch black with medium head. Sweet aroma with roasted malt, vanilla, chocolate and coffee. Sweet flavor with roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla and coffee. Good complexity and very well balanced. Lovely!

22 oz bottle from BevMo: The darkest of browns with a generous dark mocha head: Aroma is roasty coffee, dark chocolate and a hint of smoke. Flavor starts rich dark chocolate followed by some strong coffee bitterness and a chocolaty, lightly dry bitter finish. Full body is creamy with moderate carbonation.

2007 version. Thanks to MaltOMeal for this beer. Poured at the 1/28 Houston tasting. Pour is dark as an abyss with a beautiful mocha head with nice lacing. Aroma is very earthy wood with a bit of cigar smoke. Taste is coffee with rich hops and molasses. Nice and creamy with a drying finish of bitter coffee and hops. Wonderful tasting, but this will only get better.

<b><<<RE-RATE 6/9/08>>></b>
<b><u>2006 Reserve (Batch 1)</u></b>
Bottle courtesy of after4ever. Pour is all black with great settling and a gorgeous dark tan head. Beautiful beer. Aroma of roasted malts, earthy tobacco and some sweetness - honey, perhaps, but really sticky honey. Taste is the roast, mostly, but some really interesting pine bitter hoppiness gets added to the mix. The honey sweetness from the nose is not present in the taste. Very smooth, very melded flavors. This was an effective amount of aging for this one. Nice beer, thanks for grabbing this one for me Tom. Rating unchanged from previous. (8,5,9,4,17 - 4.3)
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<<<ORIGINAL RATING 1/31/08>>></b>
<b><u>2007 Reserve (Batch 2)</u></b>
22 oz bottle shared by MaltOMeal, 8th bottle sampled at the 1/28 Houston tasting. Pour is solid black, with a 1/2 inch khaki head. Aroma of oak woodiness and some charred / burning maltiness. Taste is big coffee roastiness initially, transitioning to some licorice, finishing in a crisp bright hoppiness. Some heat in the finish. Despite the young age, and apparent heat in the finish this is a very refined and well put together beer. the flavors swirled nicely as this warmed, and had a really deep complexity. Huge thanks for sharing this one Bill, I thought it was a toss up between this and the 2008 Big Foot for beer of the night. <b>(8,5,9,4,17 - 4.3) I will use this rating.</b>

Shared a friend’s ’06 alongside my ’07 and found the two to be very similar but I thought the flavors popped a bit more in the fresher version actually, although they were nearly indistinguishable.

Pours black as night with a short lived nice tan head. Smells like chocolate cake, graham crackers, fresh baked chocolate cookies, and unique for an imperial stout, also with a hint of molasses. Taste is drying cocoa, roastiness, light cigar like tobacco-y flavors and char. Simply fantastic. Body is creamy but slightly drying at the same time. Perfect light to medium carbonation and the 11% is completely hidden to me. This easily lives up to the hype and is an amazing beer. Wow...

Bottle (Thanks Jens) at PlanB. Black - brown head. Bourbon, vanilla, coconut, chokolate, burned, sweetness, oak, high sticky sweetness. Lovely.

22oz bottle: pours used motor oil black with a tan head that doesnt go away. aroma is rosted malty and hints of yeast. flavor hits you with a pretty hard roasted flavor then then the rest comes throguh the licorice comes throguh pretty well and its got a decent amoount of hops more then i have had in a stout but not bad at all. very solid beer. didnt taste any of the oak not to say it didnt change the beer just couldnt pick up the flavor. this is a very fine beer with a ton of time put into it and it shows. i poured all 22oz into one mug and sipping through it and till the very end the head is still there. i just cant see how people are talking this beer down. THIS IS THE STOUT OF ALL STOUTS!