Deschutes The Abyss

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

courtesy of fiulijn - dark black colour with a little persistent dark beige foam; very roasted malty aroma with notes of smoked salami and molasses; very sticky and oily, full-bodied and salty; an explosive deep bitterness, dry and very bitter and salty aftertaste of roasted coffee, licorice and molasses; robust notes of burning alcohol and cold ashes - very complex; not a beer to sip in front of your football game!

2007 edition - many thanks people! Huge creamy head, choco-mousse lookalike, fed by small but insistent pearling from black beer, and leaving textbook rings of dirty lace. Molasses, dry cacao powder, some ureum, used sportsshirts, and faraway wood, as well as spruce needle aromas. Very roasted, burnt flavours: grain, coffee, and in the end, burnt hops. Retronasal false liquorice sweetness, if just a hint, and some black chocolate. After some time, one starts to recognise some hops, greenery-like. Very slight astringency. Very creamy & rich-velvety texture, full-bodied being an euphemism. Alcohol very well hidden. What was all the fuzz about? It’s well crafted and reasonably complex, but then again, at 11% ABV that is not exactly a miracle.

Pitch black colour with a brown head. Roasted, light coffee bitter aroma with notes of some chocolate and vanilla sweetness. Coffee bitter flavor with a vanilla and choclate sweetness. Roasted finish with a light alcohol sweet note. From a blind tasting 8-4-8-4-17

My Bottom Line:
Roasting molasses, dark chocolate and licorice harmoniously converge onto resinous bittering hops for a lush Imperial Stout replete with flavor and knowledge.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A sheet of foam stands atop the darkest black.
-This is a lot more cohesive than the Stone Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout which we had right before.
-Roasted malts accompany the resinous hops in the finish and their combined bitterness succeeds in cutting through the malty sweetness.
-A well-levelled anise-y spiciness comes from the licorice and fits perfectly with the grain bill.
-The body is pleasantly full, not obese.
-There is some alcohol warmth in the back, but it does not bother at all.
-The barrel-aging job is subtle and is very efficient in the flavor profile.

Bottles; 2007 vintage.

Bottled. Thx. to Ughsmash for this gem. Pitch black coloured. Dark brown dense head. Lasting. Sweetness, liqourice, vanilla, chocolate and coffee in the aroma. Flavour is quite bitter. Chocolate, liqourice, coffee and cocoa again. Vanilla spice and light sweetness. incredible smooth and balanced. Full bodied. Has a nice chocolate and cocoa end, with light roasty notes. Fantastic. Has light bourbon notes. Wow. Would want more.

2006 Bomber. Pours dark brown and lively with a thin light brown head. Smells of vanilla, licorice, chocolate, molasses, touches of coffee, pepper, hints of citrus, some dark fruit. The nose on this beer is amazing. I could probably smell this one for hours and pick up on different subtleties every time. Tastes of chocolate, some coffee, some bitterness. Very well behaved compared to other imperial stouts in this ABV range. Flavor does not quite live up to the expectations set forth by the aroma but is still very layered with a nice touch of dark fruit as the beer warms. Mouthfeel is oily and some traces of oak reveal themselves as the glass warms up and I approach the end. Lasting taste of molasses.

Thanks to puzzl and/or EDA for this one... I can’t remember which of them actually gave this to me. Pitch black, sticky and oily pour topped by a thick dark brown head. Aroma is really intense, heavy roast, rich sweet cocoa and chocolate, light licorice and a very soft and surprisingly subtle oak/bourbon vanilla character as well. The aroma is really lovely, molasses, dates, brown sugar and rich cocoa/vanilla. Really lovely aroma that is rich and sweet. The flavour is equally intense, rich roast/cocoa with a lovely oaky sweetness that accents rather then dominating everything. Sweet and chewy with some light molasses and brown sugar. Even a hint of smokey roast. Really tasty impy stout.

<i>2006, sampled multiple times, fresh to 3 months old</i>. The nose is decent enough, with a mild mocha, licorice and dry roasted coffee scent, but flavor-wise it’s not such a stellar beer as it’s been made out. This actually tastes like a bad bottle of Rogue Imperial Stout, with the dry, ashy, hot alcohol and wood pretty much ruining any positives in this beer. The bakers chocolate malt and bitter coffee qualities take a while for me to warm up to, and the hops I really don’t enjoy. Any stout this large should not need hops like this. This is not a beer that knocks my socks off the second I taste it, in fact it took me a good twenty minutes in order to write down anything complimentary. But after some time I’m actually digging it. The finish at first was a major turn-off; being so parched and dry like licking an oak plank - that’s not something I enjoy. The molasses is barely noticeable, so light that without having been told that it tastes like molasses and licorice I doubt I would pick it up. All I can really say about this beer is that the palate is a complete mess. I love Deschutes, but this is not one of their better efforts. 7/4/7/2/14 = 3.4

<i>2007 fresh bottle</i>. The nose is much less ashy and roasty, and much more chocolatey and sweet. Has a distinct chocolate syrup flavor, and the dryness is still quite high, but it’s not so ashy, bitter or coarse. Much better than 2006, but perhaps my tastes have changed. I gave the 2006 some serious attention, two entire bottles, but didn’t like it. The 2007 is absolutely killer. 8/4/9/5/17 = 4.3