Supermassive Deep Wood | Revolution Brewing
It must be Hot Stove Deep Wood season, as Revolution just keeps releasing Deep Wood beers outside of their usual time frame. While the Supermassive Café Deth release usually falls as this off season release (the first two were summer releases), Revolution has an ace up their sleeve to drum up some interest in this release as well as future ones – variants. Stoopermassive Café Deth and Supermassive Cafe Mocha Deth become the first releases in this variant line.
Supermassive Café Deth | 14.8% ABV
Café Deth seems to be the Deep Wood beer I reach for to drink casually at home. It doesn’t have the sweetness of some of the releases and the coffee provides a little bitterness to round things out. So adding a bit more coffee to an already existing base beer? I’m always down for that and Supermassive delivers.
Two fingers of dark brown head immediately fill the glass and then slowly recede until not much remains. Similar to other Deth’s Tar variants, Supermassive pours a pitch black with no light getting through at all. Some purple and red highlights rim the beer when tilted. Alcohol stains the glass with numerous skinny legs. Supermassive does not, however, stain the glass in any changing way.
No need to dive into this beer to smell it as it fills the room almost instantly after being poured. Tons of coffee fill the immediate area around the open container. Upon closer sniffing a dark roast coffee becomes immediately evident. The coffee dominates things so much that barely anything else comes through. Some chocolate and bourbon peek through the coffee onslaught while some fruits might be there as well. But it all pales in comparison to that dark roast coffee.
The most dangerous things about the recent (last 3-4 years) Deep Wood releases are how drinkable they are for their ABV. Supermassive continues that trend with the smoothness of Yul Brenner’s cranium on full display here. Coffee absolutely knocks you over the head and stays around throughout, letting little else in to play. Bourbon becomes evident mostly post-sip, as a certain warming quality occurs in the throat and belly. Some bourbon notes do peek through the coffee adding a little bit of variety to each sip.
Chocolate and vanilla also get brief moments to shine but make no mistake – the coffee on Supermassive both stars and dominates (as it should). That coffee flavor definitely stays around long after the sip on the sides of the tongue with a small amount of chocolate lingering as well. Keeping with its smooth nature, Supermassive basically gets out of the way and lets that coffee bitterness shine on the palate, necessitating multiple sips.
My 12 ounce can of Supermassive was gone before I knew it. So easy to drink and enjoy that it should come with a warning. Revolution’s done Supermassive a handful of times now so you know they’ve got it dialed in. Definitely a purchase, but only buy what you plan on drinking relatively soon as the coffee will most likely fade sooner rather than later.
Rating: 9/10
Stoopermassive Café Deth | 14.9% ABV
I have lines drawn on certain beers, such as there’s only so much bitterness I’ll tolerate in an imperial stout. While I’m not a coffee drinker at all, I love coffee beers and the taste flavors they bring out, with only some of the coffee bitterness coming through. Revolution has some how not only hit my limit but exceeded it with Stoopermassive Café Deth.
Revolution made this one easy to review, especially after having Supermassive. Basically everything about the beer is the same – color, alcohol stain, highlights, head. Somehow after opening the can it fills even more of the room with a dark roast coffee. It’s all encompassing.
That carries over into the beer. While Supermassive had a little bit of chocolate and vanilla peeking out on both the nose and aroma, Stoopermassive does not. All coffee, all day. The coffee absolutely knocks everything else out of this beer. I could definitely guess and say some chocolate, vanilla and fruits come through, but to me it was all dark roast coffee. And tons of it.
Stoopermassive follows the same path on the palate. It honestly goes beyond coffee somehow. No bourbon, chocolate, fruits or anything else came through. Just coffee. It finishes dry and bitter due to the amount of coffee in it (ten times the amount of Supermassive according to Revolution). My wife is a coffee drinker and likes black coffee straight; she said this beer was like “black coffee with one sugar.” I can’t disagree with that at all.
So yes, Revolution made a coffee beer that has too much coffee in it for me. Supermassive Café Deth pushes that limit to the extreme, but some other flavors do get brief moments to shine and balance the beer out. Stoopermassive blasts past that limit and into the bitter unknown. Personal preference will factor greatly into your variant preference here. My wife – who doesn’t enjoy barrel-aged beers at all – was asking for the rest of the can on this one. For me, while still an enjoyable sipper, I vastly preferred the other two from this release.
Rating: 8.2/10
Supermassive Café Mocha Deth | 14.7% ABV
The second variant release attempts to add a bit more chocolate to the proceedings, creating a Supermassive Café Mocha Deth. Much like the other two, it pours and looks the same, with a slight difference in the head staying around much longer than the OTHER TWO. So, yeah, basically the same.
And the aroma starts out the same as well, with coffee filling the room upon opening it. Putting your nose up to it, however, reveals the variant difference. Whereas on Supermassive Café Deth the coffee dominated to the exclusion of everything else, on Supermassive Mocha a bitter chocolate note rises up to match the coffee on this one. A bit more vanilla joins in as well, but it’s now a two star show with coffee and chocolate.
Fair warning while drinking Supermassive Café Mocha Deth – it comes in a 19.2 ounce can. Why mention that? Because I easily finished half the can for the review and could’ve easily finished the entire thing without a second thought. It’s just as smooth as Supermassive Café Deth and possibly more enjoyable if you like a little chocolate in the mix.
Just like on the nose, Café Mocha’s chocolate presence on the tongue rises to match the coffee. Some might say it could even exceed it by a bit. The coffee tastes the same as regular Supermassive and a bit more vanilla seems to be present as well. The combination of coffee and bitter chocolate dries out the beer a bit more as well, leading to an enjoyable sip and one you’d like to go back to.
Café Mocha’s mouthfeel resembles that of Supermassive, only with more chocolate coming through. Your variant preference comes down to whether you like an absurd amount of coffee in your beer or like a lot of coffee with a lot of chocolate. I’m more in the latter camp and could drink Supermassive Café Mocha Deth all day without issue. Excellent beer that improves ever so slightly on the base. But be careful!
