The Search For The Abyss, Starts and Ends Now

Conceding that it will not make its way into the Inland Valley, I am about to embark on a journey to the find Deschutes The Abyss. The first stop in this journey will take me to the Beverages & More in Orange (about 30 miles away), where their website says they have 25 in stock. With BevMo that's about as sure thing as the Patriots supposing to win the Super Bowl this year. The next stop will be the Whole Foods in Tustin, a few miles further, which not only apparently has "a couple" bottles left but also has it on tap at their bar. My last stop is planning to be Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, another couple handful of miles down the road from Tustin. I know they don't have Abyss there but hopefully I can get in before they close at 8pm just to see if there's anything interesting to pick up along with a case of Olympia for my dad. It's 5:48 right now, we'll see what happens.

UPDATE: It's 9:35pm and since I posted the first part of this less than 4 hours ago we have satisfied our quest. We first made our way to Whole Foods instead and noticed they had 2 1/2 cases sitting out there in their beer isle full of amazing selections. I got the beers I needed and then found their little bar/lounge where they had St. Bernardus Abt 12, St. Bernardus Prior 8, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, and Deschutes The Abyss on tap. I think it goes without saying what beer I ordered. They served me and my buddy an Abyss in a large flute style glass (~10 oz.). This baby poured with a pitch black appearance though ruby at the edges, and a rough dark brown head that almost blended in with the body of the beer. If there was anything that could remind me of Older Viscosity (one of the most amazing beers I've had recently), then this was it. Right from the first whiff you could tell this was one rich beer, chocolate, roasted barley, and coffee like flavors abound. The flavor was dark chocolate soaked in bourbon, though the bourbon doesn't give off too much of its own flavor, more just like a warmth to the overall taste. There is a pretty stiff bitterness left after the swallow, but something I don't find detracts from this style of beer. The mouthfeel was perfectly slick for this type of beer. Thick but not too viscous, it was able to go down pretty easily. A very rich but easy drinking high gravity beer. I give this a 4.75 / A+ on BeerAdvocate. Needless to say, we didn't make it anywhere else tonight, nor did we need to.