Deschutes Black Butte XXIV

Deschutes Black Butte XXIV, the 24th Anniversary edition, is brewed with dark chocolate nibs, Daglet dates and Mission figs. This is an insanely complex beer. There is something specific I’m smelling on the nose that I can’t quite place, but more generically it is burnt caramel, black molasses, chocolate and cinnamon (?). First off this a very sweet beer, be warned if that isn’t your thing. I taste the dates and figs right away and they stick around throughout the taste, but there are many more layers to this as well. Caramel, molasses, chocolate, vanilla, a little soy sauce, anise/licorice, tobacco and a fair amount of roast and leather on the finish. Seriously, I’m not trying to pad this review, I am getting notes of all of that in this beer! Surprisingly it all works together very well without becoming a sweet syrupy mess. The bottle says this is best after 7/23/13 and I don’t see it getting necessarily better with more age, although I don’t think it would hurt it either.