Avery Mephistopheles Stout

Sample from bottle. Pitch black with small brown head. A lot of fruits and chocolate in aroma. Quite complex taste, rum, dark fruits, coffee, chocolate. Full body, a lot of alcohol. Long aftertaste.

12 oz. bottle from Grape & Gourmet (Batch 4, bottled November 2008). Black pour with a thick tan head. Big dark fruit aroma with a hint of dark chocolate; surprisingly low alcohol aroma. Rich flavor of espresso, bitter chocolate, and a hint of tart fruit (almost tastes like raspberry or cherry). Alcohol is hidden as far as taste is concerned but there is some moderate alcohol warming. This is a world class Imperial Stout.

Bottle Batch 3. Pours pitch black with thin brown head. Nose is strong sweet chocolate, some coffee, dark fruit and burnt cookies with some brown sugar notes. Taste is dark, complex, and HOT. Chocolate and coffee dominate, mouthfeel is thick and slimy. As it warms this one really opens up to reveal more dark fruit, chocolate/cherry flavor, some licorice, and a feeling of wine/rum on the palate and in the finish. Very nicely done! The high ABV makes this one excellent for winter night and sharing. Grab your sippy cup.

Pours pitch black with a caffee latte coloured head. Aroma is roasted barley, chocolate, coffee and alcohol. Flavour is roasted barley, chocolate, high alcohol.

9/26/09 notes: on tap, GABF. My first sample of the fest! Nose is rounded malt, a bit of milky chocolate and raisins. Palate is meaty and thick, with a long finish. Flavor has a bunch of sweetness up front . . . alcohol and sweet malt. Peaty flavors and brown sugar also are perceived. Not too much roastiness, which I had really hoped for. Perhaps a great winter sipper, but in general I found this beer too clunky. Should I blame the alcohol?

Batch 4. Bottle. Purchased at Binny’s locally. Great scent of brown sugar, molasses, and coffee. Unlike some, I don’t get the sense of alcohol in the smell, yet I can taste it on the palette some time after swallowing which I can appreciate. Certainly a think beer with a tar like appearance. Head poured think to 3"+ and dark. Great looking beer poured. Flavors are close to how it smells. Overall, this may be my favorite stout I have sipped. Complex in it’s arrangement, lethal, yet somehow drinkable. A big fan.

batch 3. 12oz bottle. incredibly dark oily pour under a medium sized, creamy, brown head. dark coffee, some cream and bakers chocolate, roast, molasses, rum, dark fruits(cherry, plum). flavor is quite similar to aroma with the slightest bit of tartness. full body and smooth. warming in the nose and throat.

(Bottle, batch 3, at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-09-23) Black. Medium sized tan coloured head. Roastedness, liquorice, chocolate and alcohol in aroma. Full bodied, oily and dry palate with medium carbonation. Ash, roastedness, liquorice, alcohol, chocolate and bitterness in taste. Roastedness and liquorice in aftertaste.