Deschutes The Abyss

Thick vicious pour thats incredible to watch unfold its heft into the chalice. Sits black and thick as newly wettened tar and caps the top with a roof of dark brown foam that’s thick, spongy, and lush. Inky glared stings of lace fling about after each sip. Aroma is thick and oaky with a dark chocolate heft over a tang of rich molasses, cherry, fig, and the ever present oaky bourbon scent that helps add a bit a of wondefully fulfilling, nose whirling, heat. Trace of burnt coffee ensues with a nice addition to the profile. Taste is immaculately woven with dark chocolate and a smoothly thick, lush body tranfused with all sorts of vanilla, molasses, coffee, and bourbon oakyness. A very well balanced and heavy treat. The chocolate is tenderly bittered with the heat and quite dark in its efforts. Anything and everything dark from the cocoa bean has been placed in every inch of its flavor. Spiced with a touch of peppery hops, coffee, and a terrific, if not down right perfect notion of bourbon hints wavered all throughout the chocolatey body. This is some pretty thick stuff, noticed in the pour, felt on the palate, and rendered in the gut. Smooth and velvety, thick, lush, and firm with a great creamy sense of chocolate and cream. Nice feathery spiced finish that stays creamy and enduced within a deep, darl chocolatey depth thats quite incredible to behold. It really makes a solid impression. A supurb stout!! Wonderfully thick, chocolatey, and lasting with a great impression of a well made brew. Deschutes has themselves a big time winner with this one! Wow!

Served on the warm side of cool. The beer pours with a frothy, easily three-finger thick, creamed, chocolate brown colored head that sits atop an opaque, pitch black colored brew. Aromas of oak and concentrated, burnt malt waft to my nose as I pour this brew. The first draught of the aroma yield ample roast malt character that makes me think of dark-roasted espresso beans, chocolate malt ball candies, burnt caramel and a huge, toasted malt character that is coupled with an über-nutty aromatic note. The aroma is quite rich and expressive, the roast malt character clearly dominates. It is interesting that I was able to smell the oak as I was pouring, but it gets mostly buried under all of the dark malt aromatics when going in for a more dedicated smelling of the aroma. Having said that the aroma does yield some subtle oak aromatics, including a touch of spicy wood, some soft butterscotch and a hint of a woody backdrop.

Creamy feeling up front, yet somehow still fairly drinkable & light. After the first sip has left my mouth, the finish at first is roast malt dominated then moves to a spicy oak character, but then a sweet, burnt fruit character becomes noticeable and then it seems to start over again. This has a very long finish and it seems to move between roast grain notes, light oak character and a rich, concentrated fruitiness. Quite interesting, and I haven’t even taken a second sip yet. Sweet tasting up front, obviously contributed by an ample malt character (burnt caramel notes); the sweetness accentuates a bright (though clearly roasted), concentrated, fruit character that runs throughout this beer. It also accentuates a deep, dark chocolate character that melds quite well with the silky texture. The burnt fruit notes remind me of raisins, prunes and, especially towards the finish, of cherries. The oak is really not noticeable until just before the finish where it shows up as a spicy oak character. It might contribute some soft vanilla notes & perhaps a touch of butterscotch, but these notes really serve to accentuated the malt character rather than really jump out on their own.

Serving this beer so warm (about 65°F / 18°C) has really muted the oak contribution, as the last time I had this it was much more noticeable. Even when cooler it is still on the subtle side though, which is really what I want in a beer made with oak; add a bit more to the complexity without over doing it is the only way to go. The proof that this is a very well made stout is that despite the over the top roast character, there is very little harsh acidity contributed by all of the roasted grains. Definitely not the thickest and richest Imperial Stout out there, but still this is quite satiating and I really like how the various flavor components of this brew balance each other out. This is simply quite delicious; lots of sweet malt & fruit notes to stand up to the over the top roast character, plus a subtle backdrop of oak to kick the complexity up another notch.

bottle....appearance: deep black w/ thin tan head.....aroma: abundance of chocolate with coffee playing a backup role....taste: chocolate reared by bitter roasted coffee beans. mouthfeel was pretty thin and had little carbonation. slight bitterness in the finish as well. did not have much of a bourbon presence at all......this fell short of my expecations that i had for it. 2007 vintage shared by matt at the very tail end of P4.....looked great. extremely chalky and dry finish with little show from the oak and boubon barrel. i’m downgrading my score by a notch.

I felt that this beer has a sort of hype that it falls a little short of. Definately a big beer. Definate presence of oakiness. I enjoyed the initial flavor more than the finish which would be this beers downfall in my opinion.

Thanks MikeTD. Pitch black pour, small brown head. Aroma is coffee, oats, chocolate. Mouthfeel is thick, chewy and lots of carbonation. Flavor is coffee, dark chocolate, espresso, a caaramel sweetness touch also. Tons of straight dark chocolate the whole time, coffee riding along, some smoke and roastiness. Great thick mouthfeel with a creaminess to it and tons of flavor. Hop bitterness is there with fresh leafy hops.

Thanks to NYbeer for this bottle. Pours a nice pitch black color with a small white head. Aroma is strong with coffee and chocolate being the most noticable. Flavor is coffee, chocolate and brown sugar. Full bodied and thich. Wow, this is a nice brew! Alcohol is hidden very well. Re-Rate: The new batch seems to be drier and more ashy. I’m missing the creaminess I loved in the last release. Still good, but not great.

This beer is very strong with high bourbon notes and pours dark as night. I had it on tap and it was like mothers milk. Complex as hell, very nice!! Way better last year it was more flavorful, had more bourbon notes, and was cheaper! Let me get this straight it was better last year and cheaper, this year not as good and 10 bucks a bottle, what the fuck? I know the time, effort, and demand for this beer is extreme but we are getting ripped off. Tone down the beer and double the price that sounds good. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bottle shared above DDC. Poured a super thick viscous black with a light tan creamy head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, tobacco and espresso beans. Full bodied with some noticable alcohol warming but not bad considering the 11%. Flavor of chocolate coffee with a slightly bitter burnt aftertaste. Very good beer but not even in the same league as Peche Mortel.