January 27, 2018

Revolution Deth's Tar 2017

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company in Chicago, IL
Purcased: 12oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Revolution Brewing Tap Room in Chicago, IL; 2017
Style/ABV: American Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout, 14.8%
Reported IBUs: 27

Revolution Deth's Tar 2017

In keeping with my plan to review Revolution's 2017/2018 lineup of barrel-aged beers, I'm looking at the 2017 vintage of Deth's Tar. Deth's Tar is Revolution's barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout, and the base for their Deth by Cherries, Cafe Deth, VSOD, Double Barrel VSOD, and a handful of variants that were tap-only.

I actually reviewed this beer back in 2013, and I remember it being pretty bourbon-y. To wit: "Honestly, there's a lot of complexity lurking beneath the bourbon, despite the fact that this is so aggressively bourbon-y." 

The 2018 vintage pours into your typical pitch-black body, and kicks up a finger of short-lived, brown head. I'm going to recommend drinking this towards room temp. At colder temperatures I pick up more fruity notes on the aroma, and it almost veers into anise and licorice overload. Oddly enough, when this warms up the aroma turns into boozy brownie batter, raisins, barrel, and dark fruits. At the very least, if you decide to take this beer on at colder temps, let it warm up as you go.

The taste follows through, with intense barrel, wood, fudge, and dark fruits and light raisin/oxidation on the back. There is a surprising amount of anise and hop complexity present in this beer. It's interesting to compare regular Deth's Tar to VSOD and Double Barrel VSOD...you can really see how the additional barrel aging has changed the base beer. And conversely, you can see how the 2017 vintage of Deth's Tar has a HUGE base. I'm tasting a fair amount of char in here as well, which really plays off the barrel and bourbon and compliments the anise and bold roasty malts. This is just a HUGE intense beer, and it feels substantial outside of just the ABV.

For me, this beer is a grower and not a shower. There's a lot of nuance in here, and I think this is a pretty complex brew. As this sits in my glass the oatmeal stout base comes out a bit more, and I'm getting some of that roast and caramel malt presence. At 14.8% you are talking about a lot of spirit and alcohol. And this has a medium-full to full-bodied mouthfeel. The duration is moderate to full with good palate depth and good complexity. Again, up front I'm getting a lot of fruity notes like cherry with a blend of chocolate and brownie. The mids roll into char and barrel with some bourbon, more raisins, anise, light baker's spice. The back end finishes dry with alcohol, spirit, rum, and more roast/char/barrel. It's also worth emphasizing that this year's Deth's Tar is slightly thicker and bigger than past years, which is ultimately a good thing.

Rating: LIGHT Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is an impressively solid Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, and reminds me of stalwarts like Bell's Black Note and Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin. This might be the least interesting beer of Revolution's 2017/2018 barrel lineup, but it is still a massive, complex, thoroughly enjoyable beer. And while this beer isn't quite a Bourbon County killer, it's still entirely nuanced and original and worth its own merits. Also, there is some reckoning. Namely in the form of VSOD and DBVSOD.

Random Thought: Things I won't be watching this weekend: the Pro Bowl.

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