Went to Portland for work recently and did some "research" while there. Portland boasts more breweries than any other city in the world. One that stood out was Deschutes, definitely worth a visit if you get out that way. We tried a few of there samplers which included smoked porter, sours, lots of IPAs, but two stand outs for me were the Belgian IPA and Hop Henge. A few days later I had dinner at the bosses house and after dinner the talk turned to our trip to the brewery. He told us about a beer they have called the Abyss. Every year when it is released people queue up to buy it and get a flight of the six previous years versions for comparison. I said it sounded good, a barrel aged Imperial stout, aged in oak, bourbon and pinot noir barrels and blended, definitely worth a try. So he pulled from his collection a bottle of the 2011 reserve. As they like to say out west, awesome. It tastes of chocolate, caramel, cherry, bourbon, perfectly balanced. He says it need to be aged to get the full worth of it. I checked it out later and on Beer advocate and found it scores a deserving 100 and is placed number 16 on their top 250. I thought I'd have to wait until later this year for the 2014 reserve to try and bag a few bottles, but a few days later while trawling the local store for a few interesting beers to bring home I spotted 6 bottles of the 2013 reserve in the back of the shelf. All have been given a good home, to be opened and enjoyed one per year, until I get back for more.
Black Butte and Mirror Pond are great beers
Wow! Just back from Portland myself but couldn't find any Abyss. PM me if you fancy working out a trade for one of those bottles....
Up for a trade on any of em?
Not a chance on these. But I have a guy on the lookout in Portland as we speak. Note that last year 2011 bottles of this were going for about $120 a piece, so they are rare enough, but really get better with age (that's the vintage the boss pulled out for us). Hence my 6 year plan, just like they do at the brewery! But if anyone has a few Heady Toppers knocking around I might be convinced...
It just so happens that I might be able to get my grubby hands on some Heady