1001 Beers: Black Butte

Beer Number 81: Deschutes Black Butte

Black Butte is my favorite porter... and just nearly my favorite beer. It was one of the first beers I have ever had when I got into craft and really changed my world when it came to matters of flavor. The first anniversary beer I had was Black Butte XXIII, I still have a bottle of it I am planning to open soon. I recently had Black Butte XXIV, and now things have finally come to Black Butte XXV.

Deschutes's founder and president Gary Fish credits Black Butte Porter's success, in part, to Jim Kennedy, one of the first distributors of craft beer in Oregon and the United States. Kennedy had advised Fish to focus on Promoting the inky-black beer when Deschutes opened for business in 1988, a time when almost all beers in the country were pale yellow and fizzy. Crafted from chocolate and crystal malt, Black Butte Porter remains its flagship beer to this day, enjoying a loyal and passionate following.

I love the class of 88 caps and got 4 of them from all the beers I had while home on my trip. I cannot wait to get back there and finally visit the Bend brewery rather than going to PDX... Not that anything is wrong with PDX, but I want to be where it all began and see the infamous Black Butte.

I know it is just a picture and perception is different than in real life but when Black Butte pours into the glass it appears to be solid black all the way through. Only when you bring it up to the light you can see the amazing brown highlights a little ruby poking its way through. A tan head that is billowing and full. It died down a little bit in that picture but mainly because of the way I poured it. In that first link, you can see the head on an older bottle that is still insanely crazy... Double negative?

The nose is really roasted and you get a bit of chocolate, cocoa rather filling the space around the top of the glass. A dark roast, kind of coffee-esque up front and it finishes dry. Very sharp and it caries a high level of carbonation with a medium body, and a very refreshing, easy drinking mouthfeel. A little grainy as well. Just an overall fantastic beer. Having it after a couple of years being excluded from the Deschutes distribution circle, it is nice to be reminded why I love this beer. Clocking in at 5.2% Alcohol by Volume.

I guess now this brings me to the anniversary edition. A whole 25 years of Deschutes and Black Butte... If only I were born one year away from where I was and about a month later... We could be celebrating out birthdays together!

So, this one is considerably bigger than its predecessor... and I'm not just talking about bottle size. It is 11.3%ABV and a whole lot of beer. I first fell in love with XXIII like I said earlier and it just totally blew my mind that one of my favorite beers could be made even better. You can't say that about much I love the guys who put it together and can't wait to see more from them in the future.





So, you would be surprised how this one compares in other ways as well. You would think that they would go all out and make every aspect of this beer extreme... NOPE! They knew exactly what they were doing.

I feel the nose on this beer is quite mellow but it still has that nice roasty character. Some dry fruits come across as well. They threw figs and dates into here, and I feel those dates are a bit more tamed than last year and quite pleasing.

Black Butte XXV opens up in a bit way with those figs and dates but a nice chocolatey smoothness comes across and smoothes everything out. A nice dry finish and lingering dark fruits. Hints of vanilla peek through and tell you to love every bit of their flavor. Then there is some oak and a little sourness. Not a lot, but just a smidge. It could have just been my perception but it was not out of place at all. I feel this beer would age well for years and years.

XXIII was my overall favorite of the ones I have had while comparing them fresh, but I think it may have some competition with this one a few months or maybe years down the road.

920 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Deschutes: Black Butte XXIV

Black Butte XXIV is a beer of celebration. Not just 24 years of Deschutes, but also a personal moment for me. I brewed a beer for this day, and I originally wanted to drink my Black Butte XXIII being Black Butte is my favorite porter and I have been holding onto it for sometime. The reason I went with XXIV is because, well, it all happened on the 24th.

The anniversary issues of this beer are all different recipes and aged in whiskey barrels after fermentation. I believe the first year they did this was 2008, for Black Butte XX. Not like the bottle of Black Butte XX I drank, but the actual anniversary edition. I cannot be sure. I probably should have just wrote them to find out, but I am just thinking of it now. Anyway, I would like to introduce you to, "The Baby Of The Grain"! Though, she completely hated being surrounded by Belgian Pils and Cluster Hops.



While maybe I should have opened a New Belgium La Folie or some other Flanders Red because that is the style of beer I brewed, I really wanted to drink the Black Butte. Ever since moving from the Pacific Northwest, I have really missed this brewery. I never thought it would be so hard to get beer from them. This is super crazy. I am holding onto a bottle of The Dissident, The Stoic, Conflux #1, and The Abyss 2011 on top of the other Black Butte, but I am missing out on a lot of their other beers.

Here is, "A 'Few' Extra Ingredients", Deschutes write up about the process of making this beer. There is a whole lot of intersting stuff in there and worth a read.

This edition of the beer was brewed with, "artisanal dark chocolate nibs, deglet dates, and mission figs". They claimed it could be their best edition yet, but we will see. On the bottle it had a best after date of 07/23/13, but I was not going to wait for that... Maybe I should check my XXIII and see if that one has a best after date.



This beer had a lot going on, but that is to be expected of it. It poured a deep, dark, oilesque black and formed a small brown head around the top. No light was getting through this beast at all. On the nose you get those figs that they threw in there. A very strong experience. A lot of sweetness and light hints of chocolate. Saying you could not pick up alcohol in this one either, would be a complete lie. This one clocked in at 11%.

This is where they make their money. I feel there were literally figs in my mouth. There was a weird overlying flavor that I cannot exactly define what it was but it was there throughout the whole beer and it lingered on and on and on. Maybe those dates that were highlighted in this beer. Some hints of coffee, chocolate, sweet, and syrupy. This beer coats your entire mouth and surprisingly enough, you cannot taste that 11% burn at all, though it did have some bourbon like characters.

I loved this beer a lot. So much good and no bad. Just what I have come to expect from their birthday beers and the year round edition of it as well. They feel it is their best edition yet, I am not sure. XXIII made me weep and call home crying about how I never wanted to drink another beer. I still have a bottle of it so once it's open, I guess I will see. Though, I do not see this taking the throne. I hope I can get a bottle of the XXV once it is released as well as the Class of '88 beers since it is about that time. I wonder what those hold in store for us.

Cheers!

Black Butte 20th Anniversary

You know when you are asked to do one of those things that you really do not want to do, but it comes from a friend and you would feel like a dick saying no? Well, sometimes, saying yes works in ways you would never even dream of.

One of my buddy’s asked me if I could help her move into her new apartment. No one ever wants to do this job. I mean, you are always offered pizza and beer and say yes. You don’t really want the pizza and you know going to the store and picking out the beer of your choice is a better investment of your time, but you always say whatever and go ahead on with it. Well, when I was pulling one box in I saw something magical that struck my eyes. A bottle of Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewing Company. Now, that wasn’t the magical part about it. What was so mesmerizing was the fact that the cap said 1988-2008.



Now this was not an anniversary release bottle like Black Butte XXIII, which I have a bottle of in the cellar just waiting for the right occasion to be opened, but it was a normal batch brewed as they have been doing for years. My main interest was to see how the bottle lasted over the years. Granted I didn’t know the conditions in which it was held, but at this point I really do not care. Deschutes is one of the top producing company’s as well, so I know quality of product would keep it, at least, in some drinkable fashion.

I asked my friends a little bit about the bottles history and apparently her uncle used to be an avid homebrewer but then he kind of stopped like brewers do from time to time and he had a ton of empty bottles just collecting in his garage. He asked them to get rid of them and if they found anything, they could keep it. She said they poured out a ton of bottles that had infections growing in them since, after they were popped open, they were never properly rinsed out and dried. There were two bottles of this brew sitting in there and it kind of made it into their collection. I talked to them a bit telling them how I wanted it and they thought I was kidding. I told them I was truly not and then they were like; you don’t want to drink that… I made it pretty clear I did and then they just let me have it.



Now, they have no proper glassware, which almost made me put this beer on the back burner in order to find a glass but after about a week of not getting around to it, I just had to go for it. It was quite surprising how the head presented itself after all this time. I kind of was expecting a weak, short lived, foam top. Nope! I was wrong as hell. It was big and frothy. Even looked kind of rocky. I so wish I had proper glassware to watch how it took form.

This was one of the most beautiful beers I have seen… Ok, maybe I am just caught up in the moment but besides a bottle of Old Stock Ale that I had from 2005 that was infected, this was the oldest beer I have ever had. I have only heard stories about such things. Seriously though, it looked just like a fresh bottle from off the line. I should have saved this beer a bit longer and did a side by side tasting… Maybe I can get the other one and do that before it’s too late.

The nose was roasty and had a fair malt background to it. The mouth feel was smooth but a little thin when I first poured it but I initially did not give it the proper time to warm up. I thought the dark malt really came through after all this time, but the chocolate flavor that I love seemed to have faded into the background. Still had a quite a bit of sweetness but it did seem to be a bit toastier than I remember… then again, that’s why I wish I would have found a fresh bottle to compare it to. Maybe I am just talking crazy right now?



Remember that quality thing? Well, off flavors? None. Oxidation? None. There were literally no problems with this beer. I feel it was just as good today as it ever was. Deschutes messed up though with their anniversary editions though. As much as I love Black Butte, the limited editions completely blow it out of the water. I wish I could find more of them.

Hooah!

Deschutes & Hair Of The Dog

I wish I could have made it to Bend and check out the brewery there but I did not really want to make the 5/6 hour drive vs the 2 hour drive. Parking was ridiculous but who cares at this point. I had another Beergasm as we drove by the place.



It was really hard picking out what I wanted to drink. I ordered 2 taster trays since they did not have a preset taster menu and each came with 6 beers. They had about 20 on tap at the time. What made it really hard is I wanted to taste all of my favorites at the source, but they had so many limited and special brews that are only available at the brewpub too... I don't even think I looked at the food menu. I just ordered the special that my server told me about.

He was a really funny guy and was confused as hell when it took me about 15-20 minutes to decide on 12 beers. I decided to break it down by Malty and Hoppy Brews... sort of.





They had a weird beer with lemonade in it and I was not a fan HAHA! but I am so happy that I finally got to try Conflux 2. I wish I could have had one but 2 was great. It was very mellow and flavorful without being overpowering for an IPA. I loved it, again.

I really hate Deschutes for releasing Black Butte XXIII. I am sure all the previous years were amazing as well, but this was the first one I had. It totally ruined Black Butte for me. Not saying Black Butte is not good, it is actually one of my favorite Porters but after having XXIII, it is just not the same. The flavor profile seems out of this world. I wish it was a year round release but I understand why it is not.

Again, I ran into another brewery that did not have any growlers :( this made me very sad because I was so looking forward to getting one from here. You know, being it is one of my all time favorite breweries. I will make it out to the Bend Pub one day though and do the tour and get a Growler! To make up for my misfortune though, I bought a Bottle of Black Butte XXIII and the pint glass :D It will suffice for now...

My next stop was Full Sail Brewing. I have never had any of their beers but decided why not go there. There are so many breweries in the area and I could have gone to anywhere and I did not do enough research to just move on. Not that I thought Full Sail would have been a bad choice.

We got to the location and guess what I found out... I WAS AT THE RIGHT PLACE!!! but they do not have a tasting room at their MAIN brewery... sucks... I am so glad I did not pay for parking even though I drove around for like 10 minutes trying to find a spot... Since we were just in Portland for the day I figured that we would just head home (and later that night I found out that people were heading into town for BBC11... Beer Bloggers Conference... ugh, if I knew that I would have planned this trip so differently. Oh, well... there is always next year right?

Traffic was out of control so instead of staying on the Highway, we got off and headed to Hair of The Dog because it was right off of the exit. I recognized their labels but have never had any of their beer. I ordered their whole collection of Beers, aka Walk The Dog and The Little Dogs Too.



I heard some great stories about their beers and their brewing schedule, (5 brews in one day to fill the fermenter) but the beers did not really stand out to me. Some of them had this taste that I had before in the Hermitage Brewing Beers that I cannot stand. They were a lot more minor in these brews. I have to figure out what it is... I have not had it often though.

I paired the beers with their Chuck Norris Duck Wings. I was told they were supposed to be really hot but meh, they were nothing really. They had some good flavor though. I think the description said something about kicking me in the mouth and punching my throat.

I thought these small samples were very doable but I do not think I could have a whole pint of any of these beers... that being said... I asked for a Growler :p they were out of glass as well, but I did take home one of their glasses. Again, another trophy for my collection.