Avery Mephistopheles Stout

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

Pours a dark, but transparent brown. I am actually quite surprised to find that this is an Imp Stout and not a Barley Wine, because it certainly tasted like the latter. Flavor is heavily of grapes and rum with a hint of alcohol. As it warmed I had to try harder and harder to drink it. I probably should have shilled it a bit more which is the first time I have ever said that about a beer.

This beer is not for the week of heart. It’s a real kick in the pants. Absolutely pitch black, malty sweetness evident in the flavor, surprising considering the alcohol is very prevalent. Tastes of roasted malts and coffee, a full, thick and complex brew that is not for everyone.

*did not like would not buy* aroma: soy MOE lassis sweet marinade smell. not the smell of great beer. app: thin black water. Flavor: overlly sweet. soy. the booze heat has been balanced from the age.. but its not good.. its just a sugar spiked cheap pre grill meat sauce. palate: thin.. odd. OA: this was batch #1, but no where near No.1 for me.

Batch 1..... Chocolate, raison and alcohol aroma. pours like motor oil into my snifter with a small tan head. Starts off sooooo sweet with a definate raison and alcohol flavor, with a slight chocolate taste. Then it really takes off to a nice cofefy and chocolate cream finish with a little of the sweetness from before. Very thick and it sits on the palate great especially twoads the end. Not a fan of the raison/ alcohol flavor but gets even better as it warms. not my fisrt choice frol an imperial stout but soooo complex and great sipper.

it’s got a good stout nose on it. Coffee, licorish (sp?) & rubbing alcohol. looks really great. black as midnight. has STRONG alcohol flavor comes through immediately, followed by dark chocolate and coffee.

WOW! This beer was simply amazing. Out of every stout, or even dark beer, that I’ve had up to this point, this beer was the best. The malty sweetness blew me away. Absolutely amazing. I asked my friend what she thought of the beer and she said she estimated it at 6% abv--for a %16 beer, that is amazing. This beer had tons of fruity ripeness and bitter sweetness and was just about as pleasant as it could possibly be. My favorite dark beer to this day. Amazing, I will buy this whenever I see it for sale. RERATE 3/2009: WOW! Still the best dark beer I’ve ever had. Everything from before but even better. Bumped rating from 4.9 to 5 because it’s just a perfect beer; I don’t know that I could hook my brain up to a dream machine and conjure up a better glass of beer than this.

Bottle. [Batch 2 (Nov 2006): 16.03% ABV]. Clear dark black color with a huge, frothy, excellent lacing, fully lasting, light brown head. Aroma is moderate to light light heavy malty, roasted, burnt, coffee, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet and bitter with a long long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is creamy - syrupy, carbonation is soft, finish feel is moderate alcoholic. Very nice and powerfull .. ;o)) (100408)

Bottle. Wow what a strong overwhelming aroma of etoh, chocolate, fruit and jet black liquourish that radiates from my glass. This baby needs some time!