Black Butte XXX
Deschutes Brewery

Decent but wouldn’t buy it again.

Still holding up seven years later.

22oz bottle (packaged 6/14/2018) into a tulip. Pours a deep chocolatey blackish brown with a half-finger head that settles to a thin collar.

Aroma is rich and complex, roasty and semi-sweet. Dark roasted malt, cocoa, espresso, vanilla.

Taste is likewise a bittersweet blend of flavors that coalesce nicely. The subtle bourbon character adds just the right extra bit of boozy heat to the base beer.

Mouthfeel is silky smooth, so easy drinking and balanced.

Overall a wonderful imperial porter. As usual, Black Butte anniversary does not disappoint.

Not normally a porter drinker, my wife had a glass, and I tasted it, OMG is it good, nice oaky wood taste along with the alcohol and malt goodness. Hops are mellowed by the alcohol and add a nice flavor to the mix. Bought a bottle 22 oz and I'm keeping it for a special occasion, it's that good. Rated 10-25-2018 40 IBUs

 

 

Bottle from cellar (2019). Dark brown, skin of beige head. Aroma is chocolaty, roasty. Taste is rich, sweet, chocolate, roasty, coffee and a little heat.

 

Opening it on 03/29/2022 and immediately whisky surrounds your nose. Start pouring it's like an avalanche of bourbon whiskey. When the glass is finally poured you get a nice dark tan head with a nice brown/black beer. Then the nose hits you it's kind of like getting hit in the face with a bourbon truck but there's a nice chocolate undertone and molasses on the back with a weird fruit scent that you just can't pick up. When you finally taste it you will be enhancing everything you just smelled except you can finally pick out the fruit which I picked out dried cherries. I might be wrong but that's what I got.
Mouth feel is absolutely sticky sweet with a beautiful smooth finish.
Absolutely buy this beer, you will not be disappointed. However, finding it might prove hard.

Pours a dark cola brown as you watch it fill the glass, but it appears black in situ and sports a sudsy tan head that dissipates quickly. The nose has some booze, rich cocoa, some more booze, and a big slug of black cherries. I am beyond intrigued.

The cocoa is rich and decadent, and leads on the palate, with the black cherries a deliciously prominent flavor mid-palate, leaving the boozy oak flavors at the back of the palate for a smooth, boozy finish that provides some heat. This is truly delicious.

The mouthfeel is substantial enough to support a beer of this gravity (13.6% ABV), with moderate carbonation. I’m a big Deschutes fan, but don’t see their stuff as much since we left Minnesota in 2017. This is truly a treat and approaches world class, IMHO. Glad I found it nearly 4 years ago in flyover country.

 

 

 

 

 

L - An aggressive pour yields a thin transient head that is gone as soon as it appeared. Pretty much what would be expected for a 13.6 ABV brew

S - Immediately upon opening it is evident that this beast is a real booze bag. It was quite literally to the point where I would consider it to be offensive. I gave it a minute to settle down as I began writing this review, and it seems to have tamed enough to allow the other aromas to come through. "Porter brewed with cocoa" leads me on a bit, but it definitely has the deep chocolatey aroma you would expect for such a beer. I pick up some dark fruits as well, sort of like maraschino cherries without the sugary smell, if that makes any sense. Probably not.

T - Tastes a lot like cocoa nibs straight away - sort of dry, dark, bitter chocolate without the sweetness. I pick up much more of the barrel in the taste, as I didn't find it in the aroma at all. Oddly some kind of toasted nut flavor going on in there on the finish.

M - Essentially no carbonation at this point, which is exactly as you would expect. The alcohol on the finish is not a burning like you would feel with a lot of bourbon barrel aged beers (for example), it is more of a warming in the chest. It does not detract from the beer in any fashion.

O - Good

 

22 oz bottle into Odell Teku. Just killing off these Black Butte bombers one by one.

Pours a dark brown and forms a slick black with a fleeting beige head of 1/4 finger.

Dutch cocoa comes out on the nose swinging first, followed by charred black barley, some rich oak tannins, and light shades of vanilla and caramel.

Flavor is more linear and focused than the other Black Buttes, but still incorporates that terrible piney-grassy hop that builds and builds on the palate even after the 2nd sip. I get sweet and bitter cocoa mixed with oak, some ethanol, perfume, dark chocolate, a hint of caramel, more grassy hop and perfume, and then a bit more oak and finally more perfume.

Feel is thicker than the others tried so far, and leaves a nice sticky coating on the tongue. Resins build.

Overall, again another borderline Black IPA from this series. The cocoa here is pronounced and the barrel enhances the beer, but it's still a perfumey hoppy mess. I feel as if I'm choking this down.

Price paid : $8.99 (clearance) / bomber
Would buy again : no

 

Sampled in a taster glass from draft at O'Toole's on November 1, 2019. Rich and smooth Imperial Porter. Offers notes of salted chocolate, whiskey and dried fruit flavors and aromas.