Deschutes The Abyss

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

Bottle@DTS. I think all has been said. A wonderful Imperial Stout. Main character is espresso, black chocolate and relatively very bitter in the finish.

Thanks to chef201atc for fetching this nice beer from Colorado! Pours black with a big brown head that dissipates only towards the end. Aroma of licorice, espresso, very dark chocolate, mint, and alcohol. Initial flavor is delicious fudge (which I love in a stout), dark chocolate, wood, dirt, light vanilla, and a bit of booze. Finishes with more vanilla, but it’s quickly overtaken charred wood and ash. That lingering unsweetened espresso aftertaste is a bit too ashy for me. Oh so drinkable, creamy and thick, a bit hot, and the carbonation is nice and soft. Very good beer, good flavor transitions and a lot to offer. I’ve got others I like more, but I would never say no to this.

Bottled at Petalax Beer Festival. Pitch black, firm dark brown head. Sweet and full bodied with tarry licorice and syrupy coffee. Almost completely dominated by sugar and syrup. The oak os in balanced levels, but the sweetness not. It gets inky with crude oil and tar, feels sticky and messy. I quite adore most of Deschutes beers, this is just, well not good.

Bottled. Pitch black colour, small beigeish brown colour. Aroma is wooden, licoriceish, dark dry fruity along with coffee and roasted malts. Flavour is a bit roasted, quite caramel malty, licoriceish, alcoholic as well as mildly sweet wooden notes being in the background. A wellbalanced imperial stout.

2007. completely opaque black with a dense brown head. some spots of spotty lacing between spots of paint-like lacing. the aroma is really rich and roasty... dark fruit, coffee, pine hops, chocolate, grain, earth, vanilla and some booze. palate isn*t at all sweet as the aroma would make it seem. rather, it is really dry, bitter and hoppy. the flavor is dense and intensely robust... rich roasted grains, chocolate, coffee, cream, ash, oaky/wood, vanilla, grassy hops, pine, earth, dark fruit and young california cabernet depth. alcohol and lots of hoppiness dominate the finish. the aftertaste is huge!... an abundance of whole dark roasted coffee beans. ashiness and astringency linger and dry out the mouth. borderline full body with low carbonation and a slick suave mouth feel. though it*s kept quite drinkable by hoppy dryness...8/5/9/4/18/4.4

2008 sampled shortly after release. there seems to be noticeably more dirty licorice root and bourbon spice in the aroma and flavor profiles. while the palate is sweeter it has more tannic structure which, combined with hoppy dryness keeps me coming back...9/5/8/4/18/4.4

An incredible imperial stout. Great taste and it also hits you very hard. Definitely worth the high price for at least a try if not more.

everything about this beer is dark, even the aroma. not as much oak as i would have expected in this super rich full boddied and almost viscous syrupy stout. has a nice sandy head that holds it own. a bit of spice. i wouldn’t call it a disappointment but it was not quite what i was looking for, but i was nice.

(Bottled, 0.66l) Black with a smallish, beige head. Roasty, very malty aroma with vanilla oakiness. Very smoothly malty flavor with some minty feel, moderate bitter hoppiness, oaky vanilla. Almost full-bodied, low-carbonated. Slightly too bitter, but otherwise a beautiful brew.