Deschutes The Abyss

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

It isn’t the most complex thing ever, but you know what? It’s damn dark and I would absolutely go way out of my way to get it again. It’s like coffee and charcoal jam.

22oz wax-topped bomber (2008 vintage) served in a snifter. Pitch black pour with a cakey head of slowly fading dark tan foam. A thick coat of lacing was left around the glass. The aroma had rich chocolate, molasses, bourbon, and also some cherry pits and plum. The flavor had milk chocolate wrapped in mellow bourbon and vanilla. Mildly roasty with some caramel. Some PNW hops hiding in the finish as well. Velvety smooth full-body with very light carbonation. No doubt, this is a well made beer. The only drawback was that the flavor seemed to be missing a little something.

Thanks to Cary for the hookup. Pours a rich black color with mocha colored thick head. Aroma is intense milk chocolate, dark fruit, some anise, and fuse alcohol. Taste is rich milk chocolate up front with alcohol, anise and some roasted malt in the finish. It’s creamy in the initial swallow and gives way to a bit of warm alcohol. However, the alcohol never takes away from the beer itself. Smooth and brash, which is the way I like my Impys. Glad I was finally able to taste this!

Bottle. 2008 (Sampled 2/15/09). Pours a chocolaty black with a small tan had. Nose is very chocolaty with a nice bourbon tone. Tasty is even more chocolaty then the nose, a nice dark chocolate too. Bourbon note are very balanced not over the top in your face like they can be! Molasses and black licorice notes do build as you drink. Mouth is wonderfully creamy and warm, with a little bit of a bitter finish. Top 5 IRS, wonderfully complex and balanced.

Thanks to Black95tt for sharing this one at the Columbus Tasting V.Chocolate,molasses and coffee in the aroma.Pours black with a tan head.Lots of coffee in the flavor.Full mouthfeel with a bitter coffee finish.

bottle. it has a black color with a medium head. it is slightly sweet and also slightly smoked in aroma and taste. smooth and roasty. bit buttery.

Draught. Poured deep black with thin beige head. Ringed lacing. Possibly served too cold as aroma was thin, coffee, nuts and malt. Full malty flavour, coffee, malt, chocolate All over the tongue roast malt finish. Worth seeking out.

Poured into my trusty snifter. I can’t think of anything to which to compare the blackness here that hasn’t been used a thousand times already (ink, midnight, motor oil), so suffice it to say this beer is really really black. The head is a devilishly dark tan that forms slowly through the viscosity, peaking at 2 fingers’ height. It gradually shrivels back down to a hazy cap, leaving spotted lacing along the way. Aroma is deceptively sweet, a siren’s song that tempts you to indulge yourself. Powdery cocoa and milk chocolate tickle the nose, with faint notes of licorice. There’s a lot to be said for the chocolate/coffee flavor dynamic of the RIS world, and there are lots of beers that manage greatness confined within that dynamic. But The Abyss is so much more. The chocolate emerges early on the palate and joins forces with the bittersweet bite of molasses. The licorice is fleeting but apparent, as the beer fades into a sublime roastiness. It’s never too sweet and never too roasty. You’d never know that this beer is 11% abv but for the pleasant warmth in your chest. The body is thick and luxurious, but this beer still finishes dry. Carbonation is spot-on for the style and facilitates the velvety smoothness. Drinkability is immense for such a high gravity beer. The balance and synergy of the flavors make for a phenomenal brew. This beer deserves its hype and its rating.