The Abyss Deschutes 2014 release

Are red wine barrels necessarily "cheap" in comparison to bourbon?

I personally like Abyss but, beyond that, I'm glad there are folks not dropping every beer in a bourbon barrrel. How many bourbon barrel stouts are there compared to wine and new oak?

Is it possible that it's the molasses adding the sweetness you dislike, not the red wine? I wouldn't think of red wine barrels as imparting sweetness.

 

No, I've had tons of molasses beer (including homebrews I've made) and I love it in a beer. Maybe that specific molasses they use?

Perhaps sweetness wasn't the correct adj to use? I'm not a red wine fan (or any wine for that matter) so I'm not a big fan of the flavor it imparts. And yes, buying 11% of wine barrels is significantly cheaper than buying 100% of the barrels if you catch my drift. They certainly don't pass the savings on to the consumer.

Partial BA beer should have partial BA price IMO and Abyss doesn't. I've been thoroughly unimpressed with any special release Deschutes has done from 2013 on, fallen behind the times IMO. MM was terrible, Abyss was a shell of 2012, Black Butte 25 was inferior and 26 was flat out terrible IMO. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this though. You like it? Awesome! Hope you like Abyss '14 as much as previously! Just posting my opinion.

 

Hope it didn't sound like I was disrespecting your opinion. My questions about molasses and wine were genuine. Just engaging in conversation!

I was more curious if, on a barrel to barrel ratio, bourbon was necessarily cheaper than wine or new oak (and, btw, last year was 6% bourbon, 11% pinot, 11% new oak ... so it's really 28% Barrel aged). Naturally it's cheaper if you use fewer barrels but I have no idea what percent of the cost is barrels. My hunch is that time is more expensive than barrels.

It's probably the fact that I buy Deshutes stuff in WA and OR, but it is economical out here. $17 - $18 for Abyss, less for MM or BB anniversary. I suppose it's more in distro. But compared to the price of most - not all - BA stouts that's a significant price drop. What's a BA beer from 3 Floyds run? Remy's pappy? Bruery? Churchill's finest hour? BA stuff from Lost Abbey? Prairie Bomb, Eclipse, etc. Seems like on the whole, they're at the lower priced end with Firestone Walker and not a whole lot of others. How much of a price difference should partial barrel aging be? 3 Floyds takes a $12 moloko, barrel ages it, and charges $35. Yeah, they're on the egregious end but that illustrates the spectrum.

I completely get that people may not like the taste of these beers. But quality (quality being about ingredients and craft) and price seem harder to argue. Even if they're not "bargains" it's tough to say they're not ballpark +/- a couple dollars.

Cheers!

 

There should be some grocery stores that will carry it, might be a better bet than bottle shops, unless they are holding them in the back for people to request them.

 

Any sightings in Chicago yet?

 

Wine barrels are actually much more expensive than bourbon, some can cost up to $2000 each depending on the type of oak used. I realize it's only 11% that's aged that way, but just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

Very good points. Seems like a lot of extra barrels for low usage of them.

 

I wouldn't say forbidden. its just not legal. but its not that regulated.

 

Any chance in hell that we can see this in the DC/MD/VA region?

 

Anybody seeing this on shelves?

 

Picked up my first bottle Saturday. Should hit pretty wide distribution around the PDX area this week.

 

Nice. I'm impatiently waiting for it to hit LA.

 

I get that you may not like the recent Abyss or even the BB (although 25 with a year on it is a completely different beer than it was fresh. aged wonderfully.) but you really didnt like Mirror Mirror or Not the Stoic? I thought both of those were fantastic

 

I thought that the 2013 Abyss aged in wine barrels is the best tasting Abyss that I have had. I think that the wine barrels add a really nice tannic and "winey" flavor that accentuated the chocolate flavor of the stout. I think that Deschutes really did right by aging the Abyss in red wine barrels.

 

Just picked up a few of these at BevMo in Hollywood at $17 each. Delish. Fyi... it's now made it's way to LA... Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Hollywood bars/bottle shops including BevMo and Whole Foods.

 

Had the 2013 vintage.

It was good, but nothing special.

I kept comparing it to the non-barrel-aged Bible Belt that I had just drank...the latter was far superior.

Edit: Generally prefer the coffee/chocolate stouts to the dark fruit ones. Abyss had a very fruity and winey taste.

 

Got 2 bottles in Orange County today. $20 each which I believe is the most I've paid for this.

 

Yea, I paid $17.99 each and if you think about these prices for a 22oz bomber it's insane... however, nobody seems to complain about the price of BCBS coffee or vanilla rye and those are more! Then again they are also BCBS...

 

I got a couple here in Los Angeles the same day I got some bourbon county 4 bottles 12.99 a piece

 

Where did you pick this up for $12.99? Whole Foods?