Revolution Brewing Supermassive Café Deth
Revolution’s releases have always been events. Their early releases (Very Mad Cow, Straight Jacket, the Genes) were more focused on the beer being released with a generous helping of some delicious Revolution brewpub bites. With the recent move to cans, the release parties have been more focused on crazy barrel experimental beers and one-offs (dubbed Sanctuary Beers) from the mind of Marty Scott, Revolution’s barrel master. Supermassive Cafe Deth was one of those beers.
Revolution really listens to its drinkers, especially for its barrel-aged offerings. Two years ago they put four different treatments of their Deth’s Tar beer on tap and had people vote on their favorite; it wound up being Deth by Currants, which got canned and released later in 2018. So when Supermassive Café Deth was getting rave reviews at the Deth’s Tar/Café Deth/Deth by Plums release in October 2019, Revolution was listening. And now it’s been canned and is one of their summer barrel-aged offerings this year.
The Beer
Supermassive Café Deth is basically Café Deth with a few tweaks. (Read about how amazing Café Deth was here, here, and here or listen to it as well.) First, Revolution used barrels of Deth’s Tar that were mostly sweet as opposed to a balanced blend. Then, they loaded it (actually loaded might not be a strong enough word here) with ten pounds of Dark Matter coffee beans per barrel. So, yes, this beer has caffeine that rivals espresso and, no, you really shouldn’t drink it after 10 PM like I am or you’ll be up all night (I hear USA Network has something to help with that).
Supermassive Café Deth pours a mix of black and brown with a fair amount of bubbly brown head that vanishes quickly. The beer mimics the pour, with black throughout and brown highlights. Poured anywhere near you, you’ll immediately smell coffee; I’m talking like eight inches from your nose and you’ll smell it. Medium and dark roast notes dominate the aroma, along with some cherries and raisins in the back. A certain boozy nose-tickling also makes itself known, but this beer is all coffee, all the time.
This entry into the Deth’s Tar series isn’t going to wow you with a syrup-like mouthfeel; in fact, none of Revolution’s Deth stouts should, as they’re oatmeal stouts. That’s both a good and bad thing – it drinks really easy, but at 14.8% you wished it didn’t. Coffee dominates the taste as it did with the aroma, but the chocolatey base Deth’s Tar also shines here.The chocolate comes in first, followed by the massive amounts of coffee, and then finishes with a boozy touch; fruit notes of cherry, raisin and prunes are present throughout but not the star. In its present state, the coffee exists above the stout, not integrated with it;
Comparison to Café Deth
How does it compare to the most recent Café Deth? I found Café Deth’s melding of the base stout, barrel, and coffee to be something that rarely comes along, with a lovely creamy coffee balanced so expertly with the chocolate of the stout and the barrel. Supermassive Café Deth, on the other hand, throws the balance out of sorts a bit, with the coffee and stout not really going together as they should. Is that to say Supermassive Café Deth is a bad beer? Not at all, but when compared to 2019 Café Deth, it falls short, but a vast majority of other beers do as well.
Supermassive Café Deth does have drinkability on its side. Twelve ounces of this 14.8% barrel-aged stout vanished fairly quickly (in about an hour) whereas others might take a bit longer. There’s little to no booze burn, and the chocolate and coffee do shine, although not in unison. Those who love Café Deth or coffee beers will definitely want to get their hands on this A very worthy entry to the Deep Wood series.
Revolution released Supermassive Café Deth online; it subsequently sold out. Pick-ups begin today, June 19, 2020 and will last through Tuesday, June 23. Due to it selling out, there are no plans to release Supermassive Café Deth at the taproom, brewpub, or into distribution at this time.
