Deschutes Brewery - "Black Butte XXVI" porter

If you may recall, about a few months ago I tried Deschutes Brewing Co.'s "Black Butte" porter on growler fill at D'Vines. I ended up liking it, but one criticism I had was that it was low on flavor. The texture was great, but it was missing something.

Fast forward a couple weeks, when I was doing my usual scan of the well-stocked Whole Foods beer aisle, and I came across this. It's Deschutes' "26th Anniversary Reserve" version of the Black Butte. This beer, aside from being almost $18, is made with pomegranate molasses, cocoa nibs, and cranberries all aged in bourbon barrels. It clocks in at a respectable 10.2% ABV and is sealed entirely with black wax. Despite my better judgment - and the cry of pain from my checking account - I grabbed it (along with Stone's Chipotle Porter, back in stock!)

After using a paring knife to cut the black wax off the top (what a pain!) I poured it into a glass. It pours chocolate brown, and develops a bone-colored head that dies down after a short while.

The aroma is of cocoa and ripe fruit. Cool! Definitely can tell there's fruit in there, and I'm really looking forward to how this tastes.

Whoa. I definitely was not expecting this. It's very smooth, on the lighter side (much lighter than you might think based on the color) and very delicious. The cocoa comes across nicely, just a hint, and the fruit adds a definite sweetness (mostly on the finish / aftertaste.) It reminds me of Southern Tier's "Plum Noir" in terms of the fruit / dark sugar ratio. Which is not at all a bad thing, since the Plum Noir greatly surprised me. The Black Butte XXVI lacks any bitterness at all, and instead comes at you with a delicious mixture of fruit and chocolate tastes in perfect balance. There's also just enough tartness here (thanks to the cranberries) that I'm very much intrigued. This beer also reminds me of that expensive chocolate they have at Whole Foods with all the various nuts and fruits in it.

I think I much prefer this in comparison to the regular Black Butte. The XXVI picks up a lot of flavor where the original fell short; and I think a lot of that has to do with the addition of the fruit. The sweetness up front and the tartness on the way down definitely does a great favor for this beer.

But for $18, I'm not super confident I'd get it again. I'm sure it'll age well, no question there. It even says on the bottle, "best after 6/15." Well, I didn't wait that long, but you definitely could and probably should. But for the sake of a review, I've still got to balance the taste and enjoyability with the cost of each bottle. $18 is very expensive for this size of beer. You could get two or maybe even three bottles at this price.