Deschutes The Abyss

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

2006 Batch Score: 4.5/5.0
2007 Batch In short: A complex stout with everything you can ask for
2006 Batch How: dmac Montreal batchelor party tasting session. Thanks to dmac621 and/or Dickinsonbeer for bringing this one
2006 Batch In long: Wow! What a soft & creamy but intense stout. Lots of bitter black chocolate wrapped in molasses wrapped around roasted campfire wood and dipped into black liquorice. Very roasted. The leafy hops feel like freshly picked green hops and help to make the beer feel lighter and more drinkable than it should be. Overall soft creamy cake feeling. Body couldn’t feel more full. The oak barrels showed-up in the form of campfire wood but I didn’t get any bourbon. Superb Imperial Stout.
2007 Batch Score: 4.2/5.0
2007 Batch In short: A black liquorice-heavy stout
2007 Batch How: One of the many bottles I got from WeeHeavyHD, after4ever, JW77 and others. Thanks to you all guys
2007 Batch In long: Like the 2006 batch but with a lot more black liquorice (too much), less chocolaty and less of a fresh green hops feeling.
In conclusion: The 2006 was a masterpiece and I was disappointed by the “only” excellent 2007 batch. But may that be a lesson of pride and bravery, when facing the Abyss, Glouglouburp The Great didn’t back-down.

Bouteille de 22 oz dégustée en compagnie de Dmac621, Dickinsonbeer, Cathschlag et Glouglouburp. Arôme: Odeur de chocolat et de mélasse avec une pointe de vanille. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque. Présence d’un très mince col beige avec une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de café et de chocolat avec une pointe de vanille. Longue durée de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence de chocolat en arrière goût. (Rating #1236)

Tar black with a thick tan head, very heavy on the pour, so thick, 10w30 or 5w30? Coffee fresh crushed and a roastiness that makes a cold day go away. Oak and vanilla, sweet start, but a big bitter finish that lets you know "hey man, don’t fret drinking me now, be patient" this will only improve. The alcohol can’t be tasted at all, which is amazing for how fresh this is. Smooth on the palate, but will only get smoother as the hops die down with age. This beer will amaze when it has sat for a bit. Oh yah, and 5.95 a 22oz bottle at 11%, yes please.

Very dark with a shiny brown-blackness. Fruity dark chocolate in the nose. Chewy, rich texture. Huge blast of sharp roast right from the beginning. Some slashes of alcohol followed. Quite the cornucopia of flavors and aromas, like baker’s chocolate, tobacco, black licorice, sticky molasses, charcoal, raisins and black coffee. Some lactic sourness as well. Rather hoppy, with a very evident piney-grassy element. Wood and subtle vanilla followed up in the finish. Deep, complex and cozy, albeit sharp and strong, making it somewhat cantankerous.

Bomber, ’06. Pours a deep opaque black with a thick, surging, densely moussy and sludgy tan-to-orange-ish head. Big roast coffee nose; the coffee’s super intense everywhere in this one. Some slight notes of bitter, acrid hop too. Super bold attack: thick, viscous, oily body with deeply velvety mouthfeel. Doesn’t pour so much as it oozes. The molasses and anise they promise are there in the mid-palate but they’re subtle, they’re overwhelmed by roast and coffee and char. Very little bourbon or oak or vanilla there, either, though they hint around. The finish is huge coffee again, lingering into bitterness in the clingy, sticky finish. Awesome beer.

Wow, Gillard has scored us some awesome brews again, this tasting ROCKS!(May 3rd, 2008 @ Oldsmar Tap House, FL)

Pour black with brown head. The aroma is dark roasted to burnt to coffee and then at the end lesser amounts of more dark roasted malts. The mix of notes is very inviting and making the first sip nearly impossible to hold off even an extra moment. I succumbed almost immediately. I’m not weak but this beer is assuredly stronger than my will can withstand (OK, I’m weak). The taste is rich smooth chocolate notes that bleed into dark roasted malts, some burnt malts and notes of coffee. There’s a faint influence of the ABV to go along with hints of malt astringency that tend to add balance to the experience to go along with the roasted to burnt malts. Yummmmmmy.

Batch 1, @ Stevofest, courtesy of stevo. Man, what a great beer. I could give a laundry list of the aromas and flavors (its a nice mix of smoke, chocolate, blueberry and balck walnuts, along a bunch of other stuff, if you must know). But really it come together to a lot more than the sum of its parts. Immensely satifying beer.

Black as night pour with a nice creamy tan head. Sticky lace. Aromas of oak, licorice, dark roasted and burnt malts, vanilla, a touch of vodka/alcohol. Lots of roast in the flavor. Vanilla, oak, some alcohol. This moves into a soft dark fruitiness that rides out into a charred and burnt finish. A little warming. Lots of dryness in finish.