Deschutes The Abyss

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

I drank this as number 600 on a crisp autumn afternoon. It went well. Black pour with a medium amber head. Taste is roasted malt, licorice, chocolate. Taste is dry and I would have liked it a tad sweeter.

500 mL awesome waxed bottle thanks to Lagunitasfan. Pours pitch used motor oil black with a dark brown head towering to almost two-fingers in size. Spotty lacing. Huge aroma- I could smell it as I popped the cap off- of molasses, dark chocolate, espresso, black licorice, oak, and- like every one else- some anise. Taste up front reminds me a lot of the DR Baltic Porter. Super powerful roasted and chocolate malt with milk chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Almost no warming alcohol. Finish is really where this beer shines. Rather than tasting like the end of a whiskey shot like other imperials, this beer finishes sweet and quick reminiscent of cappuccino gelato. Just a beautiful thing to savor in every way.

08/10/2009 with Steve and Hugo. A black hole of dark chocolate, liquorice and rich malt that is so good, so balanced, so integrated, and so unfairly drinkable that it almost sucked away my desire to brew or to even drink another beer in my lifetime. It’s also turned my writing into clumsy junk. Well done Deschutes, this is a classic. A velvet fog. A nobel laureate of beer. Note: I couldn’t find any non-terrestial intelligences (or cheese) at the bottom of this abyss.

Bottle. Nose is chocolate with light smoke and soft acidity. Something fruity, light fig and plum are possibilities. Warms up with more fruit, cherries and raspberries. Black with a thin patchy creme head, small bubbles and great lacing. Loads of chocolate, lightly acidic, nice but without much depth. Roasty finish with some alcohol in the aftertaste. Seems that it needs some time to truly express itself. Lots of potential. Thick but a bit dry. Easy drinking for the style, other than all the alcohol presence. Flavor opens up a lot with warmth, but is matched by a huge rise in alcohol presence.

Velvetty smooth. Choarcoal notes. Slight oak. Big chocolate. Very nice, and drinkable. Would like to sit down with a bottle and do this again.

Bomber thanks to kmweaver. Almost black in color with a brown head. Aroma is roasty, with chocolate, oak, caramel and light notes of vanilla. Taste is alot of chocolate, moderately roasty, caramel, burnt sugars, and oak. Light on the bourbon, apparent but barely so. Finishes roasty and lightly bitter/astringent. very nice.

2006 Reserve 22oz bottle shared with jarspag for the final beer of the 2/9 Death Metal in Carlsbad. Pitch black pour with red edges and a deep beige head and big bubbly center and minimal lacing. Instantaneous aroma of robust dark chocolates and molasses with notes of burnt barley and wood. Faint hints of brewer’s licorice as well. Very smoky flavor with rich chocolate truffle and espresso, with a subtle oak barrel character. Hickory wood and a light soy sauce presence are detectable. I liked how a third of it was barrel-aged, so there is not an overwhelming bourbon presence, yet the smoothed oak presence is very nice. Thick and soft body with the palate transitioning from sweet to bitter very efficiently at each sip. Yum yum yum.

Thanks jake65! 2007 vintage. Pitch black pour with a beautiful tan head that is somewhat slow to recede. Aroma is heavy in the dark sugar department- date, fig and plum combine with molasses, lactic sugar, and brown sugar to culminate in a mildly warming alcoholic booze and heavily roasted barley. Flavor is chalked full of roasted barley, creamy chocolate, espresso, fennel, molasses, wood, burnt caramelized dark sugars, and a foreboding ashen malt profile. Palate is thick, rich, velvety, charred and silky. The uniqueness of this brew in a sea of stouts makes for a memorable and wholly enjoyable quaff.