Black Butte XXVII
Deschutes Brewery

A 22 fl. oz. black waxed bomber, 27th birthday reserve, with a best after date of 20th July 2016. Poured into a snifter glass.

Appearance: Dark brown with an orange hue, and a thin khaki head that dissipated quickly, while leaving some sparse spotty lacing.

Aroma: Roasty, cocoa nibs, chocolate, fruity, tangy, dried apricot, orange, with soft bourbon notes.

Taste: Moderately roasty, chocolate, cocoa nibs, vanilla, lightly sweet, molasses, fruity, dried apricot, orange marmalade, pomegranate, and a hint of bourbon.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.

Overall: Interesting series of adjuncts that I wouldn’t have put together, but results in an interesting and pretty enjoyable sipper.

 

 

 

Best after date of 7/20/16. Opened 6/5/21 (28th wedding anniversary).
1 1/2 finger beige head...really good retention in an aged beer. Slowly fades to a solid cap.
Dark brown porter, good clarity and mahogany-ish with a flashlight shined through.
Light roasted malt, wood, and fruit (rich and dark fruits...apricot is there for sure).
Very expressive nose that deserves more of a description than this.
Cola, booze, tart and sweet fruit - apricot and pomegranate seem to be present and accounted for.
Silky smooth mouthfeel, low carbonation and still a bit of heat. Sweet, tart, and roasty lingering finish.
Fantastic beer, great experience!
Outstanding to World Class.

 

A tasty Halloween treat.

Pours like a vampire squid who squirted your submersible with used diesel.

Smell and taste reflected Gomez's lust for Morticia, as he licked and kissed her arms and toes.

This mash might just become a monster on the greatest holiday of all times,

Halloween............mwuhaha..haha...
Haha.........

 

22 oz bottle, into Odell Teku.

Rose Water, huh. And apricot nibs, and pomegranate molasses. What are these things?

Pours a medium nut brown which forms a darker brown to black in the Teku and has a 2 finger khaki head that recedes to 1. Lace is really nice and plentiful.

I can smell apricot and molasses, licorice, yes a little pomegranate seed, hot caramel, and some general peppery spiciness. It is intriguing.

Flavor brings the flower pot water first and loudest, followed by some tart and nearly sour apricot, slight pomegranate seed, dry cocoa, pineapple, caramel, fennel, and a bit of grassy hop. Further sips yield more tart apricot puree.

Feel is medium bodied, slightly roasty, slick, and build in heat on the palate. Drying finish.

Overall, a bizarre piece of brew here. Tart apricots, plant water, pomegranate seeds, and dry cocoa. I don't think I'd revisit it again, but they really did throw the kitchen sink into this one. After about 1/3 of the bottle, I'm saying "no more".

Price paid : $8.99 (clearance) / 22 oz bottle
Would buy again : Nah

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019-12-29
22oz in a snifter. Black, small head, medium to low carbonation. Smell is boozy and dates. Taste is boozy, sweet, fruity, almost tart. Mouthfeel is light and smooth. Overall, not bad, but maybe too old.

Opaque dark brown body topped with a very dense and creamy light tan head. Excellent aroma combing elements of dark grains and dark, pitted fruits; slightly sweet and little boozy; cherries and figs; cocoa. The taste bursts with notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, sweet pitted fruit, and some well-hidden alcohol. Heavy body; thick and chewy; big residual sugar sludginess; some boozy warmth.

I have no idea what rose water is or what it supposedly contributes to this beer, but all else considered, this is one fine aged ale. There is a lot to experience here. Great depth and complexity exists here, and one need only let the beer open and develop to discover its dark secrets. This bottle label claims this beer is best after 7/20/16, and I have no reason to doubt this. For a 4+ year-old beer, this one is a beauty!

 

 

 

20oz bottle. Waxed and capped bottle. Label has best after date as '7/20/16'.
Dark brown colored body with medium brown back lit highlights. Less than one finger light tan head upon first pour, which recedes to an active surface and partial ring. Leaves behind some tiny spots of lacing.
Aroma of roasted malts, with dark cocoa, apricot, and bourbon barrel.
Taste is roasted malts, and lots of apricot mixed with the chocolate. A little molasses slides in at the end and into the after taste. There is a light spicy note. The bourbon barrel adds itself in but it is a mild intrusion.
Thinner mouth feel. Good carbonation.
The apricot and pomegranate add some pleasant fruit components. All in all well put together and the beer has aged very well. There is nothing heavy about this beer, but it has complexity and some taste delights.

 

22oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours dark brown with a one-finger foamy khaki colored head that reduces to a ring around the glass

S- aroma is an eclectic mix of apricot jam, pomegranate juice, molasses, charred malt, cracked pepper, chocolate, caramel, bourbon, oak and vanilla

T- initial fruity sweetness up front, with the apricot seeming to lead the way. Mid-palate brings out the roasty charred notes of the base beer, as well as cocoa nibs. As is nears the finish, notes of sweet molasses with a pomegranate fruitiness, as well as black pepper and some mulling spices. The barrel comes out on the linger, adding oak, bourbon & vanilla. More pomegranate sticks around longe after, as well as charred malt

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that turns into a creamy finish

O- I had my doubts after reading the label, but this turned out to be one of my favorite of their anniversary beers. The fruity note work well with the base beer

Not sure how I came across this. Probably just spotted it one day and grabbed it, several years ago. So now, here we are. Let's give 'er a go.
Poured a deep golden brown with a black show in the glass. Head was slow to form and low. Dark tan and inclined towards leaving. Rich dark malt with soft roast and more towards chocolate. However, the fruits show too with a nice blending and the pomegranate showing forth. The bourbon is soft in the background and then vanilla is very mild. It's a nice blending of aromas.
Lovely rich feel. Smooth and slightly sharp still. Really nice. Boy this has held up well. Still a bold aftertaste that seems to show no sign of age on it at all. The bourbon is heavier here and the fruit is in the background. These two essentially trading places from the aroma. All held up well with a rich malt of soft roast and no where near burnt. Lovely, really.

2015 (?) edition - split bomber three ways. Pours a deep brown to black with reddish highlights and thin dark tan head. Aroma of sweet molasses, chocolate, coffee notes and a touch of fruitiness.
Taste is dark chocolate with some sweet but tart fruit - berry, dark fruit - molasses, some coffee bitterness.
Medium mouthfeel - bittersweet chocolate and fruit tartness linger on palate. Very nice - think better than XXVI.

L: Gorgeous brew. Jet black with a three finger lingering head that is frothy and tight and with lighter and darker tan hues like the head on a root beer float. Good retention and nice lacing as well.

S: Dark roasted malts taken over by tartness which smells like a blend of the pomegranates and apricots.

T: The tastes is not distinguishable as these fruits however and comes across to me more as red licorice. There are touches of cocoa and that vanilla note the bourbon brings, but there is still a bit of booze to distract from and muddle the other flavors which in turn seem disjointed.

F: Too thin. Not at all coating, soft but not smooth. This reminds be a lot more of black ale than a stout. Some of this likely thinned with aging.

O: This was once incredible on tap. A two year old bottle was a bit too boozy. This review is updated for a 2014 dated bottle aged until September 2019. I think I've concluded this beer is not really my thing.

Look: Dark, dark brown, syrupy sloshing, thick fluffy, almost crunchy looking foam head (like some kind of caramelized sugar treat), mostly opaque body.
Smell: Sweet, chocolate and fruit... reddish pomegranate... like one of those Brookside chocolate covered fruit snacks.
Taste: Much like the smell - dark chocolate contrasting with sweet fruit (red berries and stone fruit), soft bourbon notes, moderate bitterness
Feel: Slight alcohol heat, moderate body, fluffy, chewy, goes down smooth
Overall: Holy smokes this beer is amazing. Poured into tulips on 4/23/19, best after 7/20/16 (2.75 years) and really wishing I bought more. As the beer warmed up it got even better. Super complex.

A: Poured into a snifter to a black beer topped by a dense and rocky half finger of light tan head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of fruitiness and chocolate with some oak and vanilla.
T: Taste is chocolate and molasses with some apricots, spices, coffee, oak, vanilla, and slight caramel. On the swallow there's more apricots and fruitiness, chocolate, spice, molasses, oak and some slight roasted malts.
M: This beer has a fairly silky and full feel on the palate. Carbonation is on the low end but adequate for the style with a drying finish.
O: Overall this is a nice beer. It has some nice flavors and complexity but some of the flavors color outside of the lines from what you would normally expect from a porter. It's well executed and I'm sure this beer was probably better fresh.

 

Opened March 14, 2019.

Standard appearance for the series and the style. Very dark brown, some roasted chestnut shining through around the edges, half finger of brown head of somewhat small bubbles that recedes to a small ring after a few minutes. Not much lacing, only a few streaks that stick every other sip.
Nose is spicy with generic baking spices but also black pepper, oak spice, maybe a hint of rye spirit. Some cocoa syrup, molasses, dark fruits, hints of smoke.
Full of dark and light berries and stone fruits at first and in the finish with loads of fruity and roasty grain, barrel vanillin and toast, and bittersweet chocolate and Mexican hot chocolate. Finishes with bittersweet cocoa and a little fruit then fades into a very long roast and spice aftertaste with a smidgen of smoke coming through.
Mouthfeel is good. Far from cloying or thin, pretty drinkable.

Not my favorite of the series but still nicely complex and very, very good.

 

1 PINT 6 FLUID OUNCE bottle
Served in a snifter

This beer pours black and is topped with a couple inches of tan head that leaves decent lacing.

The smell is chocolate with pepper and spices. I get hints of fruit.

The taste is chocolate and coffee. I taste dark fruit, pepper and spices.

Full bodied with a smooth mouthfeel

This is a good beer. I like it better than the 26.

 

I feel this bottle may have been a little off.

While it looked and smelled quite nice, the flavor was overpowered by the pomegranate. It was like someone had poured grenadine syrup into it. This spoiled what I can only guess what was at one point a great beer.

 

 

Appearance: Opaque dark Amber, with a small, dense light rocky tan head, which retains well. Thick, unbroken sheets of fine-beaded lacing adorn the glass walls. The head remains for a remarkably long time.

Aroma: Profound notes of fruit, particularly apricot, dominate the aroma, there is bitter coca, and molasses, as well. Lots of boozy alcohol, as well, and woody bourbon barrel notes, also. Perhaps there is a little vanilla, as well.

Taste: Opens with profound notes of bourbon-like booze and bitter cocoa, and molasses. Wood runs throughout the taste, as well as some vanilla. Biscuit malt is present from start to finish. Hints of apricot are present as well, but mostly overwhelmed by the more complex flavors of malt, bitter cocoa, and booze. Late in the taste, bitter cocoa and the bourbon-like notes peak. Finishes with a lingering barrell wood note.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, very full, remarkably soft, with just a hint of carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: Really just excellent, very, very over-the-top. Perfect for a holiday dinner.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twenty-ounce ounce brown glass bomber bottle, sealed with a pry-off crown, and melted black wax, served in a Samuel Adams Boston Lager Sensory glass.