Black Butte XXII - Deschutes Brewery

CommanderOfAwesome

California

2.4/5  rDev -43.1%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

Had on tap 2/7/13 at Beer Revolution

A: Pours a very dark brown with minimal light brown head. Recedes quickly.

S: Aroma is strong on this one. Yeasty and musty, not in a good way. The sweetness is apparent, mixed with some stale coffee. Chocolate and BA character struggle to make their presence known.

T: Overly sickly sweet, BA quality has faded quite a bit. Dark bitter chocolate notes, fig, and vanilla are also coming in.

M: Medium to full bodied, no carbonation which isn't surprising considering the BA and the age in general on this one.

O: Time was not kind to this beer. I just recently had XXIII on tap and it was wonderful. Aroma on this was off and not pleasant. Taste was overly sickly sweet (in a dark fruit way), that just lingered and over powered the rest of the beer.

Serving type: on-tap

02-08-2013 11:51:34 | More by CommanderOfAwesome

moonknight31

California

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

05-19-2013 17:00:51 | More by moonknight31

Humulus85

Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

05-10-2013 03:15:16 | More by Humulus85

2378GCGTG

Texas

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

05-09-2013 16:27:34 | More by 2378GCGTG

Kelp

New Hampshire

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

04-15-2013 06:07:42 | More by Kelp

Cyclone8

Minnesota

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

02-20-2013 04:27:19 | More by Cyclone8

emilylee

California

2.5/5  rDev -40.8%

02-08-2013 23:05:17 | More by emilylee

JulianB

South Carolina

4/5  rDev -5.2%

01-29-2013 13:18:49 | More by JulianB

popery

California

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

01-28-2013 02:39:40 | More by popery

leedorham

Washington

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

01-21-2013 18:41:10 | More by leedorham

spycow

Illinois

4/5  rDev -5.2%

01-12-2013 03:22:22 | More by spycow

teddyarrowhead

Oregon

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

12-16-2012 04:34:33 | More by teddyarrowhead

Recless7

Idaho

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

12-08-2012 19:27:25 | More by Recless7

Samwhyz

Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

11-04-2012 20:41:31 | More by Samwhyz

cestlavie

Yukon (Canada)

4.75/5  rDev +12.6%

10-15-2012 04:10:10 | More by cestlavie

t0rin0

California

4/5  rDev -5.2%

09-19-2012 23:47:32 | More by t0rin0

brystmar

New York

4/5  rDev -5.2%

09-08-2012 03:34:28 | More by brystmar

Hopstout

Minnesota

5/5  rDev +18.5%

08-15-2012 02:33:38 | More by Hopstout

HungarianCount

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

08-11-2012 05:09:24 | More by HungarianCount

tewaris

Minnesota

3.93/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4

On tap at Bryant Lake Bowl.

Dark with a light brown head that is persistent and leaves some lacing on the glass. Aroma is coffee, roast, some fruit and some... spice? Smells exotic.

Dark, fruity, roasty with a lingering flavorful bitterness at the end that is either derived from the roast or dark chocolate.

Very mellow with nothing standing out in particular. Excellent silky and creamy feel on the palate. This is not a barrel forward beer but it is good... not sure what they were aiming for but it drinks like a big porter (duh) minus the tartness. Also, it drinks way too smooth for its ABV.

4.5, 3, 4, 5, 4

Serving type: on-tap

08-10-2012 20:52:33 | More by tewaris

womencantsail

California

3.9/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Sort of a muddled black color with a tan head. Chocolate is the predominant aroma here with a decent roastiness, a hint of citrus, and some vanilla and whiskey in the background. The flavor is also heavy on the dark chocolate with a bit more roast and whiskey (and just booze in general). Some coffee, mild vanilla, and citrus notes, maybe a touch of the chile in there somewhere.

Serving type: bottle

08-05-2012 02:20:23 | More by womencantsail

reddfrogg

Minnesota

3.75/5  rDev -11.1%

08-02-2012 16:46:11 | More by reddfrogg

CoryR

Oregon

4/5  rDev -5.2%

07-31-2012 15:21:09 | More by CoryR

herman77

Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

07-29-2012 20:18:45 | More by herman77

theCoder

Minnesota

4.23/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Had this yesterday at a local bottle shop as a part of Deschutes Base Camp Week. They were pouring XXI, XXII and XXIII.

This is a review of XXII but being XXII and XXIII are basically identical according to the brewer who was at this tasting. I can confirm they are pretty close but obviously with the age on XXII it was a bit more mellow, however I didn't realize the bottle issues they noted beforehand and when I looked at it and tasted it I knew there was something off compared to XXIII and I talked to the brewer and he informed me of that. If you have them side by side you can notice it but if you do not you'll likely never know.

The bottle issues do NOT take away from this beer, wow it was wonderful.

Poured a very dark brown with a tiny chocolate colored head. The chocolate was there in the nose quite heavily with ever so slight bits of vanilla.

Taste was wonderful, it was like liquid dark chocolate with roasty caramely notes in the end. I didn't notice any of the peppers, and I tried oh boy did I try.

Mouthfeel was silky smooth.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone with the opportunity to try it. It was fun to do a 3 year vertical to see how much it changed from the XXI to XXII and XXIII recipes.
In XXI you get a lot of coffee and chocolate on the nose and taste, XXII and XXIII the coffee is barely present and basically not at all in XXII.

Serving type: bottle

07-26-2012 19:50:51 | More by theCoder