Deschutes The Abyss

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

Serve in Snifter

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bottle from allaboutstout...pours black with minimal beige head..aroma picks up the nicely roasted malt profile, with hints of chocolate, coffee, and molasses... body is of heavy chocolate and molasses as well, with a brutally bitter finish...some grassy hops present as well...very good, but just a tad too harsh for my style

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting. Oh WOW, did I love this one! Black with a brown head. Big, rich coffee and chocolate nose balanced out and softened with vanilla. Excellent coffee and chocolate flavors, very bitter chocolate invades the sides of the tongue. Light nut and vanilla creep up in the finish. Simply excellent!

From a trade with kyzr, picked up a 22-oz bottle, also picked up last remaining bottle from Woodstock wines and deli in Portland, OR. Pours an opaque dark broan brew with a small light tan head that dissolves quickly to a fine film. Aroma is complex with scents of vanilla, bourbon, toasted chocolate malt, dark molasses, and a touch of smokey wood. Taste is smooth, creamy, full bodied, with some wood and bourbon flavors. Finish is smooth creamy and very warm in alcohol in the aftertaste. IN the aftertaste, detection of raisins, molasses and deep dark chocolate. Very impressive!

Bottle RBSG ’07. Coffee aroma. Strong with some hops and some lactose. Very nice nose. Black body with a thin, light brown head. Strong flavor. Very nutty. Alcohol is well evident. Peppery.

22oz. Bottle (thanks glkaiser): Strong, moderately sweet, malt aroma. Smells of roasting, smoke, chocolate, coffee, and cream. Poured pitch black in color with a small, rocky, brown head that mainly diminished. Opaque. Good lacing. Flavor is medium sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malts, chocolate, roasting, smoke, and a little oak and bourbon. Medium to full body. Creamy texture. Soft carbonation. Long, dryish, chocolate, malty finish. Overall, excellent. Hides the 11% ABV very well. Very malty, but well balanced.

Ludicrously brown headed – quite literally a chocolate mousse sitting above the inky yawn. The foam produces surprising rings of lace and a bubbly film around the glass, flaunting what most Imperial Stouts seem to lack: an intriguing head formation. The nose is quite hoppy for the style, expressing plenty of pine sap which conjugates quite beautifully with the aromatic maple syrup and woody oak. Dry chocolate and gently roasted coffee bean appear in the classic Imperial Stout combination, particularly well executed in this case as it isn’t charred. An odd sterile scent of cardboard and plastic appears as well, along with almonds, salted sunflower seeds and a hint of tomato. With warming, a fruity component of pomegranate, strawberry and blackcurrant adds a unique complexity to the fragrance. The flavor is dominated at first by caffèllatte and elegant vanilla bean. The chocolate, cream and subtle coffee bitterness offer a velvety treat highlighted by appreciable tonalities of black pepper and bell pepper, as well as a malty cookie and caramel backbone. A hint of pine and custard to finish and a long Carambar caramel and coffee aftertaste round the palate very gracefully. Smooth in texture and not too sticky, this is a refreshingly balanced and honest Imperial Stout offering a great deal of originality. Deschutes have set their goal higher than the commonplace annihilation of palates that most other brewers seem to favor in their Imperial Stouts.

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting

Nose is coffee, roasted malts, licorice, toffee. Vanilla makes its prescence in the flavor. The downside is the aging in bourbon makes it pretty sweet. Still a very good beer, just not world class.

95% Dark, some head. Huge coffee aroma but not as smooth as expected from the aging. Roasted rich bitterness, more coffee all over the finish. It became too much--I’m not even sure if "light sipping" wouldn’t be too much. I didn’t know this was a Top 50 beer when I tried it, so my rating is what it is, without favoritism.

UPDATED: JUL 27, 2008 RBSG07. From 22 oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a creamy brown head. Aroma of barrels, coffee and cocoa. Flavour is dominated by barrel notes, coffee, chocolate and liqourice. Finish is a good blend of hop and coffee bitterness. 7-5-8-4-16 4

Blind tasting at sk8vikings porter / stout tasting, beer no 17. Pours black with brown creamy head. Slight roasted malty aroma. Slight alcohol note in aroma. Chocolate malty flavour, slight sweet with a bitter hops twist. Nice bitter finish with a persisting chocolate note and slight burned. 7-4-7-4-14 3.6

From bottle #32 at sk8vikings American blind tasting. Pours dark brown with a lacing tan head. Roasted malt, chocolate and coffee aroma. Flavour is smooth roasted malt and chocolate. Solid coffeeish flavour to this. Light fruity note to an otherwise solid roasted and dark brew. Lingering roasted malt flavour. Nice smooth and flavourful. Lastin fruity bitterness.8-4-9-4-17=4.2

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting. 2006 Bottle. Dark black body with a small creamy light brown head. Coffee, caramel and chocolate aroma. Strong coffee, chocolate and molassas flavors.