Tonight's beer: Deschutes The Abyss (2010)
Dark chocolate explodes into the palate, leavened with dark toast, vanilla, almost-buttery caramel; traces of coffee, earth, peat, smoke, licorice woven into the structure. Maybe a dim flicker of burnt fruits, and a dash of grassy bitterness—the latter particularly noticeable closer to the finish. Massively bittersweet at the start; dries out gradually, but—eventually—pretty thoroughly.
Thick, dense, kinda slick but coating and syrupy-sticky; carbonation is difficult to figure out. Slowly drying, with the 11% ABV represented by a vague glow and nothing more—the beer is remarkably subtle, that way, for such a big beer.
Holy shit! This beer is mind-bogglingly complex, and staggeringly intense; beautifully well-integrated, and walking a razor-sharp line of bittersweet from start to finsih. Massively and undeniably powerful, but supple and subtle and astonishingly graceful. This beer is the subject of my one and only annual chase; it's pretty much the definitive Big American Stout, kinda the Amber of the style (for those as have read their Zelazny).
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| Deschutes The Abyss (2010) |
Dark chocolate explodes into the palate, leavened with dark toast, vanilla, almost-buttery caramel; traces of coffee, earth, peat, smoke, licorice woven into the structure. Maybe a dim flicker of burnt fruits, and a dash of grassy bitterness—the latter particularly noticeable closer to the finish. Massively bittersweet at the start; dries out gradually, but—eventually—pretty thoroughly.
Thick, dense, kinda slick but coating and syrupy-sticky; carbonation is difficult to figure out. Slowly drying, with the 11% ABV represented by a vague glow and nothing more—the beer is remarkably subtle, that way, for such a big beer.
Holy shit! This beer is mind-bogglingly complex, and staggeringly intense; beautifully well-integrated, and walking a razor-sharp line of bittersweet from start to finsih. Massively and undeniably powerful, but supple and subtle and astonishingly graceful. This beer is the subject of my one and only annual chase; it's pretty much the definitive Big American Stout, kinda the Amber of the style (for those as have read their Zelazny).
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