Black Butte XXIX

The BB Birthday bers aresome of my favorites of the year. Haven't been beer shopping much lately, due to budgetary constraints, but will grab 3-4 bottles when I see it. As an aside, I really hope the fad of cinnamon in beers dies a quick death. It isn't a deal-breaker, like coffee or pumpkin, but it's not high on my list of preferred flavors.

 

I enjoyed it; had half a bottle last night. The cayenne is really nice; the rum gives it just a touch of sweetness which pairs well with the richness of the malts.

 

The Bend pub does a vintage taster tray for the release every year, the current beer and the 5 previous years' versions. Having lived here a few years, I've been lucky to try many of these beers multiple times under fairly controllled conditions, or at least more systematically than any other beer (I guess the same goes for Abyss). All of the 5 year-old vintages I've tried have held up very well, retaining flavors of the adjuncts while generally continuing to smooth out. Generally my preference on the tray follows oldest to youngest, this year the fresh XIX was my favorite.

I'd buy one to drink fresh, and if you like the flavor profile, consider buying a few more with confidence they'll likely age gracefully.

 

Yeah they come up to Beer Junction as well, or at least last year, and this year again on 7/27 for a 5 year tasting.

 

Hills' Restaurant does that each year in Spokane with Abyss. I think he does it with BB:A as well. Deschutes is Steve Hill's only permanent handle for years now, so their distributor hooks him up.

 

Kinda makes you wonder how much is held back each year to support vintage events for the next 5 years. I'm assuming that these locations are getting new kegs of the vintage beers each year, but maybe they're only selling a 1/6 of the keg and then pulling it until the next year.

 

Only had it on draft so far where I got zero cayenne or cinnamon. Rum barrel is definitely evident though.

 

In honor of the start of Season 7, I thought it was appropriate to Take the Black (Butte) and open a bottle tonight.

Plenty of cinnamon and tasty (not overwhelming) barrel character. Nice pop of cayenne at the very end.

 

Did the tasting tray this year (again). I generally think aging beers is a pointless exercise, and while the flavors may change, I find they often do not improve and are almost always not worth whatever the "tax" is that bottle shops/bars impose when they put bottles out for sale or vintage kegs on tap.

Black Butte beers are definitely an exception IMO. Cant speak for this years vintage, but every previous vintage is SOOOOO much better once you let it sit for a year or two. The tasting tray going back to Black Butte XXIV was phenomenal. I personally liked 24 and 26 the most, but even 28 at a mere 1 year old was sipping fantastic.

This years was very good, but I will reserve any final judgement until next July

 

this was weeks ago at the release party.

 

Is Deschutes still doing some of those brewery only releases like Black Butte 3 and the Sour Quad. Haven't seen anything news in a while.

 

Yes, last time I was there a couple of weeks ago they had a few of those brewery only releases available. At least I'm assuming they're brewery only since they had that similar labeling. I didn't pick any up and don't remember for sure, but I believe they were these:

http://tenemu.com/news/deschutes-brewery-adding-three-new-beers-to-pub-reserve-series-may-27/05/2016

 

Thanks, I haven't seen anything on those on their website.

 

I haven't heard about any recent releases in that series, but the pub still had a few of them available when I was in there a few weeks ago.