As you can see by my last few posts, my friend Joe and I have been out in St. Louis, hitting Perennial Artisan Ales earlier this evening. After enjoying their Vermilion and Abraxas, we headed back to Joe’s place, where he cracked open a Deschutes Black Butte Porter. It wasn’t quite time to call it a night, so Joe dug into his celler and pulled this one out.

Location: Poured from the bottle into a pint glass, at my friend Joe’s house in St. Louis, MO.

Numbers: 8.8% ABV, 45 IBUs, ~ 269 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: As you can tell, it was very black, with only some slight ruby notes visible when held up to the light. There was a nice, creamy, tan head on it, which held or a while and left some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma was roasty with a mix of coffee, chocolate, mocha, and barley malt.

Taste & Feel: The body was full, and the mouthfeel was very smooth and creamy, almost velvety. The flavors up front were malty and lightly sweet with a fair amount of coffee like roastiness. In the middle, chocolate, cocoa, and maltiness cut through and become the prominent flavors. Some hop bitterness kicks in during the finish, but it mixes with the roasty flavors and dry cocoa bitterness. In the aftertaste, some coffee and espresso like flavors linger for a bit.

Food Pairing: This is a flavorful stout with lots of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and sweet maltiness. It would be hard to pair this one with anything but a chocolatey dessert or something lighter like a coffee cake. As an alternative, I think this would actually be wonderful as an ice cream float, as the body and flavors in this beer are very smooth and the creaminess would go along with the ice cream nicely.

Overall Impression: My first impression of the beer was a good one, with a nice, complex aroma and a very smooth and creamy mouthfeel. As I continued to sip it, I began to enjoy it even more. The velvety body smoothed out the flavors very nicely, making it pretty drinkable for a full-bodied, 8.8% ABV beer. The flavors were smooth and complex, not overpowering each other. This is defintely one I’ll have to grab next time I’m in the mood for a solid stout.

My Rating:

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