Deschutes The Abyss

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

ON tap at the liar’s club. Black with a creamy brown head. Roasty, chocolate, and coffee aroma. Sticky palate. Burnt roasty taste, dark choclate, fruit,burnt bitterness and alcoholic warmth to the finish.

Winter 2007 vintage, just a few months old. In contrast to the aged 2006 version, this one showed alot more roast and hardly any anise character. An earthy hoppiness shined through as well, lending balance and depth. I preferred the fresher version slightly. Both are excellent, but the 2007 really shined. The bourbon is incredibly subtle in both, enhancing the brew slightly while allowing the traditional Imperial Stout to take center stage. Great beer.

Original rating 8/4/8/4/17 4.1. Courtesy CaptainCougar. 2006 vintage, consumed January 2008. Pours as dark as something called The Abyss should.....pitch black. A small, frothy, bubbly tan head leaves behind random spots of lacing on the glass. The aroma is rich and deep, with anise, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and roasty espresso all showing strong. The chocolate intensifies in the flavor profile, leaning towards very dark chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. Oak is present in the form of woodsy vanilla. The roastiness is huge in this one. Smooth, almost creamy palate, but not quite as full bodied as I expected. Overall, this is a very, very good brew.

22oz, big thanks to indiana red for this. a cool label and i like how tight and clean the black wax is. pours pitch black with big tan head. nose is an extremely muted baker’s chocolate, tobacco, solid oak. flavor is wonderful, extremely smooth and rich. flavor notes of baker’s chocolate, tobacco, vanilla, sorta bitter PNW hops thing going on, subtle bourbon, molasses, and licorice. mouthfeel is extremely thick and chewy (which made it harder to drink and lost a palate point). carbination is real low. alcohol is slightly warming but not harsh and is well hidden. the barrel doesn’t play a big role but perhaps add some depth and complexity. perhaps the roasted malts haven’t come into their own and are a little raw at this stage. i think a year or two will improve this beer.3.7.

2007 vintage, thanks to holdenn for sharing at P4. looks fantastic, black with creamy tan head. extremely dry bakers chocolate nose. flavor is also very dry and chalky chocolate notes. not a lot going on and this is extremely dry. i dont know how age will improve that though. we’ll see.3.6.

1/3/09, ’06 vs. ’08. both look great, black with creamy tan head. The ’06 aged into a more complex dark chocolate and coffee notes with the original ashy character sliding more into the background of the beer as it is still pretty dry. very smooth finish to this. The ’08 had a big out of place green hop character with that original Abyss ash tray quailty. Clearly 2 years helps this beer a lot as this is the first time I actually enjoyed Abyss. So sit on this for a few years.Rating: Abyss ’06 (aged 2 years) - 3.9, Abyss ’08 Fresh - 3.3.

This is simply a great beer. It pours black into my duvel snifterwith a one inch cocoa colored head. The aroma is of milk chocolate with some licorice. The flavor has lots of creamy chocolate. It’s very tasty. It’s smooth as silk on the palate. wow. I cellared this at 50F (10C). This is a great temp to drink this beer at.

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.

2006 Reserve - Aged in Oak Barrels
Rating #800...

6/08/2007: When it comes to appearance, The Abyss is pretty much black and opaque. There is a thick, dark brown head that is long-lasting and leaves fairly detailed lacing that is made of ultra tiny bubbles and covers the inside of the glass from the top to the bottom. The beer itself leaves a slight oily-like sheen on the glass as well. The aroma presents coffee with cream, chocolate, some cola, and a hint of sweet licorice. The flavor is rich and robust with lots of roasted maltiness, bitter dark chocolate, coffee, and some bourbon. It is slightly dry mid-palate and some vanilla and oak are noticeable. The finish is very roasted, possibly bordering on charcoal, with a mild to moderate level of bitterness. The alcohol is present and warming, but not overbearing or out of place. The aroma and flavor are definitely deep and intriguing. Actually, at a warmer temperature, the flavor becomes a really nice, rich cofffe and chocolate with some interlaced bourbon followed by a substantial, balancing bitterness. This beer has a full body and is smooth and oily, yet somehow thick, soft, and creamy. The Abyss is really quite good and bold, but it isn’t quite as good or complex as other beers in its class (e.g. Dark Lord, AleSmith Speedway, Stone IRS, Goose Island BCS, Avery Mephistopheles, Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast, Bell’s Expedition and Kalamazoo, Hoppin Frog BORIS, Siberian Night, etc.). Everything seems to be there in this beer, but nothing stands out to really set this beer apart...

22 oz bottle (11% Alc. by Vol.) via trade with Yonkers65 (Dec 2006). Thank you very much Bruce. I really appreciate it!

Bottle. Thanks to Thaddeus for this gift. Black color with a foamy medium to dark brown head. The molasses and licorice come through well and the oak barrels smooth out the flavor without adding too much of the bourbon vanilla element. An intense coffee and bitter aftertaste with a rich full bodied finish.

0.65 l bottle at Stockholm Beer Festival 2008. Pitch black with dark tan head. Very deep sweetish aroma with coffee, chocolate, licorice, salty licorice and vanilla. Rich bittersweet and roasty flavor with coffee, salty licorice, dark chocolate and some charcoal. At the end of the long festival day this tasted heavenly. Got to try this sober sometimes.