Deschutes Conflux No. 1 - Collage

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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bottle as shown .. . interested to try this .. . pours out a straight amber .. medium foam head, light lacing .. . some oak and rotting fruit .. . just to muddled and thin to be really good .. . . aaah! i hate the bush!!

Bottle. Light Amber color with a small head. Aroma sour up front with a lingering sweet and creamy barleywine finish. One can feel citrus aspects across the palate. I was a little put off on initial sip but as I worked my way through the glass I enjoyed it more.

Thanks Darrell! The beer is copper hued with a thin, off white head. The aroma brings wild yeast, wine, oak, leather, cherries. The flavor is really aggressive. Big alcohol in the finish. Lots of wild yeast and funk with strong white wine character and a touch of grape skins. Pretty tasty.

Bottle at Bruce’s, London - big thanks to the host! Pours cleanish, golden-brown with a light, beige cream head. Boozy, ripe fruits in the nose, peach, strawberry, light sweat. Big sweet flavor, ripe fruits, some prunes, sweat, light funk. Full bodied with fine carbonation. Warming finish, lots more ripe fruits, a bit of heat, some white birch wood. Nice stuff, heavy and depthy.

On tap at HOTD. Colour...very cloudy amber-brown with no head. Nose...very funky, yet sweet like overripe grapes, and very Dissident-like. Palate...very tangy and focused with lively acidity and a redolence of crushed prunes, macerated currants, old dates (not past girlfriends!) and a mildly acetic funk that lingers across the palate from front to back. This has aged nicely in its relatively short life, and I suspect that it’ll age well and gain complexity.

Shared bottle with Gerry B in Sequim WA. Pours an amber/brown with thin tan head. Nose almost has an oaky / wine note to it. Taste has hints of cherries, funky sour Flavors and some light booze heat..very tasty.

Bottle poured a clear reddish brown with a small lingering tan head. Aromas of bourbon, carmel, toffee, vinous notes, cherry, oak, light vanillka, light spice and a hint of spice. Palate was medium bodied and crisp with a lightly tart finish. Flavors of bourbon, carmel, toffee, vinous notes, sour cherry, citrus, oak, light vanilla and light spice with a crisp lightly tart lingering fruity finish.

A steady pour into my New Belgium Globe glass produces a one finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head. The beer is a concentrated, plum-amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, red-amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a strong fruit component to it smelling of cherries, some berry-like notes, a touch of accentuating acetic acid perhaps, and a back note of spicy oak and alcohol. Woody oak notes are definitely here, with almost a fruity, oaked red wine like character to the nose.

Lightly sweet, with a lighter body than one might expect from a beer of this strength, the beer picks up a strong fruit / cherry flavor in the middle with the sweetness gets a bit more accentuated and the finish has a spicy, wood and alcohol note to it. The oak lingers on the palate after each sip with a spicy, astringent, and slightly woody character. The finish is again evocative of a fruity, oak aged red wine, with lots of berry notes, a firm oak character and a slightly teeth coating astringency. The alcohol in the finish, combined with accentuating oak character also reminds me of a red wine. There is a touch of hop bitterness here that lets you know this is beer, and the malt character is here, though not as omnipresent as one might expect in a beer of this strength; soft toasted malt notes, especially in the middle and finish, a touch of spicy whole grain character, touches of a rounded brown bread flavor, and perhaps a hint of crystal malt character. There is also an aged malt component that helps to round things out (tempering the fruit / sweetness even); this contributes a rich, toasted, nutty note that comes out as the beer warms up. The sweetness is nicely offset by a touch of tartness, which also accentuates the fruit flavors here. The body is a slightly viscous, definitely rich, but not overly heavy.

Quite tasty, but definitely showing its strength as well. This is quite evocative of a oaky, fruit forward red wine, but is clearly beer with its richness, malt, and light funkiness. A tasty experiment that I wouldn’t mind having a bunch of in the cellar to age; though at this price point I probably won’t be.

Bottle [from trade with Boltz7555, thank you sir!] shared with Dutchdrebus. Hazy amber color with a medium sized off-white to light beige head that diminishes fairly quickly. Aroma has malts, some sweet-sourish hints and lightly alcohol. Taste malts, some fruits like cherries and red berries, sweet-sourish, alcohol, slight bitter hint towards the end with a touch of fruitpeel. Full body, full carbonation.

Bottle @ home thx to benzai. Brown with some ruby red colour, small off-white head. Smells cherries, wood, red fruits, sour, flemish brown. Tastes cherries, red fruit, wood, sweet and sour, some whisky, some chocolate. Medium to full body, soft carbo.