Deschutes Tasting at the Foundry

I ventured out of my beer cave and went down to the Foundry for their Deschutes kick-off party Monday night. I was stoked to get a taste of The Abyss and The Butte XXIII without popping open my bottles. Each of these beers have been taunting me every time I open my fridge, with a song that could be My Last Serenade. I fought back temptation and will now tailgate each of these brews with a pour from The Foundry.


The first time around I ordered the whole flight which included Mirror Pond, Black Butte, The Abyss, Black Butte XXIII, and Hop Henge. I’ve already professed my love and affection for Mirror Pond and Hop Henge so those were no surprise. Black Butte is within recent memory so no surprises there either. Here it is, it’s what I’ve came for The Abyss and to a much lesser amount of anticipation Butte XXIII. I’m used to getting my hands on limited release brews at the liquor store and then armor car-ing them back to my place. There, I share with the members of the FatCat crew in the protection of the casa de FatCat. However, on Monday I felt like Indiana Jones on another impossible mission through the urban jungle of Westport. The thoughts of all that could go wrong running through my head (parking tickets, no tables, incorrect tapping information, and the list goes on) but I pushed through for the treasure.

The Abyss

11% ABV

65 IBUs

My first rendition of The Abyss was presented to me in a taster glass. The nose was promising with chocolaty aromas possessing a sticky sweet character. The nose heightens my anticipation of the greatness of this brew. I take a taste and I am hit with a much thinner mouthfeel than expected and some sourness on the finish. Usually sourness is associated with a bacterial infection affectionately referred to as Brett. I let the brew warm to coax out some more character but the amount in the taster glass was insufficient. I ordered a full pour of the Abyss, which came out in a tulip glass. The sourness was still there but was considerably subdued over what I experienced in the taster glass. The mouthfeel thickened a bit as it warmed and had a mouth coating sticky character. The Abyss did possess an exceptional deep chocolate character early in the palate before the sourness took over in the middle. There was some oak character present but masked by the sourness. This was not what I was expecting out of one of my Pegasus brews. The Abyss has positive attributes, but didn’t live up to the hype for me. Between Parabola, The Czar, and Oaked Aged Yeti I have been a very very spoiled beer geek in the realm of Imperial Stouts lately.

Black Butte XXIII

11% ABV

55 IBUs

Onward fellow treasure hunters, time to check out the Black Butte XXIII. Black Butte XXIII is an imperial version of Black Butte Porter with orange zest, chocolate nibs, and Pasilla chillies thrown in. Sounds a little crazy to me. The nose gives hint to a thick sweet brew with rich chocolaty aromas coming through. XXIII start with a good thick mouthfeel and big sweetness. The citrus character of the orange peel starts in the middle of the palate and persists into the finish. The chocolate nibs are well hidden and are only briefly detectable in the middle of the palate. I did start getting some more chocolate as the brew warmed up to room temperature but was never overwhelming. The sweetness and the citrus orange peel character are married throughout this brew and last into the finish. The finish was very unique with both sweetness and citrus bite playing around. I didn’t detect the chilies in this. It was amazing how well the orange/citrus character complimented the big sweetness in this brew. The Butte XXIII was the winner of the night and I came away with treasure I didn’t expect. Awesome!

Cheers!