This marks the start of a new weekly "Beer of the Week" post that we intend to do for 2008. Tune in every Friday to see what we've been drinking.

When Deschutes releases their 2nd batch of The Abyss at a bottle shop near you on this upcoming Monday, January 14th (estimated; ask your bottle shop for sure), they won't need our help to sell out this beer in record time.

The Abyss was originally unleashed in December of 2006, and no one really knew what to expect. But at $4.99/22oz bottle, demand was high for this 11% barrel-aged stout. It did not disappoint.

Here are our original tasting notes for the 2006 release:

Pours dark as night with medium light brown head. First thought on the aroma is pure coffee. I’m amazed there is no coffee actually added to the brew; probably the best coffee aroma I’ve gotten from any beer. Lots of coffee and roasted/burnt malt in the taste. A bit of salty licorice and surprisingly hoppy to finish. Very nice, subtle sweetness to this bad boy...Sharp alcohol bite, but not even close to overpowering. A bit thin for such a big beer. I was told this was aged 30% in bourbon barrels and 70% in French Oak barrels then mixed. I get lots of oak...not much bourbon. Someone had compared this to Full Sail Black Gold, but they are completely different brews...both good in their own way. Very good, but can’t wait to try this after it has time to sit.

We gave it a 17/20 overall rating; outstanding. Not everyone loved it as much as we did, but it got plenty of rave reviews. We cracked a bottle from our cellar (yeah, we mean the closet in our second bedroom) last week, and it is aging very well. The alcohol bite has died down and we picked up more smooth chocolate and less espresso. It comes off as more balanced and drinkable after a year to age.

The 2008 release also had cherry bark and vanilla bean added during the conditioning phase, which should make for another welcome dimension to the brew. With the success of the previous batch and the increased price of raw materials, it sounds like a 22oz bottle this year will run about $10, give or take a couple dollars. It is still a great value for such an outstanding beer. We plan on buying some to enjoy now, as well as a few to hold onto for the future, if we can get enough.

You can try any of these shops to get your hands on some of this.

You will also see it on tap at better beer bars around town, in time.

Photo thanks to potatoknish on Flickr