Abyss Update
by Derek ~ December 31st, 2008. Filed under: Uncategorized.While watching the Ducks take over the Holiday Bowl last night a few celebration beers were opened. Among them an ‘06 and ‘07 Abyss. I was really looking forward to the ‘06, last time I had this was about a year ago and it was excellent, unfortunately now after two years this bottle had started to decline. It seems the yeasties remaining have been at work, the carbonation was very high, this sadly thinned out the body a lot and left it pretty dry. The dryness seems to accentuate the coffee notes in the finish, but this didn’t have the chewy malty depth that is Abyss.
The ‘07 was another story all together. I remember when the ‘07 first came out and the ‘06 was starting to get really good, I wasn’t sure if the first batch could ever be topped. Well, the ‘07 has done that, this beer is just stunning right now. The year or so of aging on this beer has really smoothed it out, no excess alcohol present like when it was first released, soft smoked notes on top of the bourbon, well rounded and flavors settled to perfection.
What a good night, and how about those Blazers as well!
December 31st, 2008 at 11:04 am
Celebrated with an Abyss myself, current year however. Go Ducks!
January 6th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I followed the link from BA to get here and this is making me really want to get into one of my two remaining ’06’s. Glad I have a healthy stash of ‘07 and ‘08.
Oh, and even though I’m from the Seattle area, I probably hate the Huskies just as much as Duck fans.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Jay, Good call on the Huskies, although this year was punishment enough for them where I should probably hold back any comments, hehe.
If you open one of those ’06s let me know how they are. A few of the people on Beer Advocate had commented that theirs were still doing quite well, so maybe my bottle was just a bit off. Treat yourself to one of those 07’s though, they are just amazing right now.
Thanks for the post!
-DA