Deschutes Brewery 2009 and 2010 Abyss (365 Day 77)

By scot in 365 Days of American Craft Beer on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Deschutes Abyss

Any annual short release American craft beer is sought after by beer geeks and the like. Who deserves those beers is up for debate 😉 Early last year my cousin who resides in California, was (un)fortunate enough to snap me eight bottles of 2009 Abyss by Deschutes Brewery. I made arrangements with those beers to get other hard to get beers from beer people and friends alike.

I have heard the stories about the ’09 Abyss potentially being contaminated. I thought all along that mine could not as my cousin got them from California, they wouldn’t send contaminated brews to California. Yeah, great logic.

Last night was TNBC, the last for Mark, so we all brought some good bottles of beer. We all seemed to have bottles of ’09 and ’10 Abyss but have never tried it. Mark was set on trying it. Good thing as I believe we were all eager.

2009 Abyss cracked opened and immediately the sour milk smell: BAD. We each took the token smell, pour, and sip, then down the drain. I felt bad as that bottle was one I traded to Ed. Sorry.

Mark was hell bent on Abyss, next he cracked open 2010 Abyss, recently obtained by Rich. Yet again, another shit beer. It wasn’t as rotten as ’09 since it didn’t have an extra year to sit, but it was well on its way to sour milk. $30 of Deschutes beer down the drain. Made for a rather disgusting night.

All in all, we, the consumers get screwed out of our money. It is piss poor to think that people will send back their bottles when it will cost more to ship it, etc than a new bottle. I will no longer buy Deschutes Abyss and there is a good chance I am done with their beers. It is a shame as I do like them, I just don’t like getting screwed out of $15. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: The brown myotis bats when born are equivalent to a woman giving birth to a 30 pound baby.