Avery Mephistopheles Stout

"Batch 2" Black pour with a deep brown head and ruby accents around. Dark fruit, roast/burnt malt, alcohol aromas. There is a lot in this one, really attacks the taste buds. Some roast malt and coffee, bakers chocolate. More plum and port wine, with some barrel like characteristics. Long lingering with some alcohol burn in the finish. Split the first bottle, not sure I could drink an entire one myself. An impressive offering from Avery, of which I’ve been pleased with many of lately.

Brown-tinged black pour with a thick, coffee-froth colored head. Prunes and anise on the nose. Flavors of dates and prunes and some burnt oak, followed by chocolate, cherry, and the as-advertised "double espresso finish." Sweeter even than liqueur. A sipping beer in the most literal sense. More than 2-3 ounces would be too much, and more than 1-2 times a month would lbe too often. In that context, excellent.

Bottle, batch 1. Sampled summer 2008, thanks boboski.
Pours pitch black with a brown head which quickly fades away. On the nose, caramel, butterscotch, dark fruits, chocolate and some sherry notes. In the flavor, chocolate, caramel, butterscotch, figs, dates, raisins, quite sweet, alcohol is evident. Quite strong, but high on flavor! A little cloying and heavy in the mouth.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured thick, black and oily with a medium sized dark brown head. The aroma was sweet bourbon, roasty malts and floral hops. Very complex on the nose but a bit of the alcohol shows through. The flavor was richly complex and intense with notes of port wine, cherry, licorice, roasty malts and honey. There is an incredibly intense and long finish of port and licorice. The flavors practically sear themselves on to your tongue. Almost too intense. Remarkable!

A pitch black beer with no head. The aroma is very sweet with primary notes of coffee, but also with light notes of vanilla and alcohol. The flavor is very sweet with a powerful presence of alcohol (no wonder), which burns the mouth slightly, the flavor also contains quite strong chocolate notes and lesser notes of wood, leading to a dry end. A very complex beer.

Pours with dark brown head. Aroma smells of malt with slight citrus hop. Very powerful flavor, the 16% comes through and is suprisingly thin in the mouth given all of the other strong attributes. Good beer though.

Batch 3. Pitch black with a lasting medium brown head. Aroma is rich and fruity, plums and raisins, with brown sugar, a touch of hops and quite a lot of alcohol. The flavour is sweet and roasted, with a lot of alcohol, and a somewhat simple charcoal/roast malt finish.

V - Pouts thick oily black with a one to two-finger dark tan head
A - dark chocolate with dark rum and cherries
T - slight burn from the alcohol then a mellowing into chocolaty bourbon. Anise is noticeable at the end.
P - leaves a lasting film and warming in the mouth.