Deschutes Obsidian Stout

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Stout
Bend, Oregon USA

12oz bottle. Pours a black body with a dense, finger-width, brown head that dissipates slowly and leaves lots of creamy, layered lacing. Aroma of rich, semi-sweet chocolates and roasty coffees. Some citrusy florals keep this well rounded. Flavor is full of roasty, rich, goodness. Sweet dark chocolates, heavy but not aggressive roasts, some chalky coffees, and a light bouquet of citrus bittering hops. Palate is medium bodied, dry, and leaves a lot of lingering roasty, rich chocolate goodness. Overall, my kind of stout. Straightforward, but big and bold. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Poured black with a tan head. Aroma of coffee. Some chocolate with coffee. Lots of fruit that almost overpowers the coffee.

Like everyone else I must say it is "obsidian black". Really really black, with a light tan head that is very frothy. Aroma is of candied whopper malt balls with espresso bean candle notes. (those coffee armoa candles, coffee with vanilla waxy smells). Simply huge roasted malt flavors. Warm, roasty, and the finish goes on and on. Some hops thrown in the mix but you’re fixated on the roasted malt, of course. Surprisingly drinkable for a richly flavoured beer - a characteristic among other beers from the fine brewers at Deschutes.

On tap @ Baker st pub in Boulder. Deep dark brown, smells roasty and a little spicy. Tastes creamy and mostly coffee with a little burnt caramel kind of thing going on. Impressive brew.

Pours a dark brown. Deep rich flavor, with notes of coffee and roasted chocolate. Can sure feel the alcohol, high abv. Very good stout, and very drinkable. Thumbs up!

12oz. bottle into a nonic. "Best by 05/28/09" is stamped onto the label. Pours black, and completely opaque in appearance. 3 fingers of frothy, creamy, light brown head, which fades extremely slowly to a thin cap. Lacing is thick, sticky, and prevalent. Aroma of sweet malts, slightly earthy roastiness, with hints of coffee. Tastes of moderately sweet, malty roastiness. Lightly smoky/burnt/dark coffee flavors. Very slight hint of dark fruitiness. Solid smoky bitterness lingers on the finish. Moderate carbonation, medium-full, creamy, and smooth. Outstanding. All elements of this brew are above-average to out-of-sight. This is a really good beer, reasonably priced, and a pleasure to drink. It is a damn shame that it is unavailable here in Ohio.

No idea how I’ve managed to not rate this beer yet, a gross oversight on my part! Pours as dark and smooth as the rock for which its named with a small tan head that fades quickly. Aroma is full of roasted malt, dark chocolate, light coffee and some plum/raisin type fruit esters. Flavor is caramel, chocolate, light coffee, mild earth and pine hop notes and roast. Quite an easy drinking stout, and one I’m thrilled to be able to drink on a regular basis.

DLD 2009, thanks to [?]: It is obsidian in color, topped by a short-lived tan head. Very nice aroma, dark malt with a light roast, dark dried fruit, coffee, and floral/herbal hop scents. It was thinner bodied than I anticipated. The flavor matched the aroma and had the addition of some chocolate and a nutty/woody bitterness. Pretty decent.