Deschutes The Abyss

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

2006 Bottle sampled 1/07: Pours an immensely dark brown/black with a huge brown head. Nose is coffee, chocolate, and well roasted (burnt) malt. Coffee, bittersweet chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, and roasted malt taste. There is also a charred wood note and a hint of alcohol in the tail. Overall, very deep and tantilizing flavor. Original Rating 8/4/9/4/18=4.3 <P> 2007 (2nd batch) Draft @ Brewpub: Aroma is more complex than I remember. Dark chocolate, vanilla, roasty, and that subtle bourbon barrel aged note. Flavors abound with the same, yet maybe a bit more coffee and bourbon/vanilla sweetness. Huge, creamy palate. Rerate 9/4/10/5/18=4.6

clean tasting and a good blend with the right weight to the barrel flavors. tends toward cleaner flavors (away from fat fruit flavors) and the anise and molasses do a great job of rounding out the malt sugars and providing depth. piutch black, some of the darkest foam I’ve seen in a while. even warming it doesn’t expand much flavorwise alth9ough some earthiness emerges. Straight forward and gigantic. Way fun stuff!

Bottle from Kenb that I found in my closet last night when I was cleaning it out. Thanks for this one, yet another top 50 imperial stout that I couldnt wait to get into. Pours out about the color of midnight with a thick huge brown head on it. Perfect apperance. The smell is some notes of vanilla but mostly coffee and chocolate. Based on the smell I could tell that this seemed to be a very balanced bourbon beer, and not completly overwhelming as most BA beers are. The taste is exceptional, thick and smooth and creamy, no bourbon notes at all. Tastes like a huge coffee imperial stout with a chocolate bar melted inside it. Very good. Now I am pissed I did not order from LS when I had the chance. Quite an awesome beer that needs no aging, it is ready to go. Good stuff.

From Huckelberries in Spokane. This beer is near black and super oily with a lasting brown head. Aroma is intense with chocolate, coffee, licorice and molasses. This a serious contender in the imperial bourbon barrell category that seems to be the "it" beer to brew. Lots of flavours similar to the aroma with a little extra vanilla. Very rich with a nice hoppy dry finish.

Pours a complete opaque black with a dark brown head. Aroma is woody, chocolate, molasses, oak, vanilla, roasted malts. Flavor is malty, oak, vanilla, molasses, roast, and bitter roasty finish.

<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)
<b>
<<<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>

22oz Bottle Pours out pitch black topped with a great brown head. Aroma of great roast and sweet malt. The tast is Great as well. I will have to get a few more of this one. Very Very good.

Small brown head, retention is good with a saggy, spotty lace. Black and bold coloring. Nose is chocolatey, coffee roast and faint notes of whiskey, burnt rubber and some coconut as well. Body is full, slick on the palate, oily and coating. Big roasty flavor, dark chocolate, molasses, soft bourbon notes, Kero syrup and a hint smokey. Teeny wood notes are buried with an asperin like astringency appearing on the sides of my tongue. Notes of berries and cherries and tobacco flavors arise as it warms. Finish is a touch sweet and roasty. A very large critter this Abyss! Not a beer i could drink on a regular basis but impressive none the less. Thanks to jake65 for the bombers i received in trade!