Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Poured jet black. Very sweet roasted malt aroma with brown sugar hints. Very chewy. Lots of complex flavors: Bourbon or rum-soaked dried fruits. Lots of alcohol on the palate. Nearly a barleywine, but it does have a nice stout finish. This was an excellent beer, right up there with some of my favorite stouts. I will be cellaring this one to enjoy occasionally for the next few years.

Rating from June 2006 - Beer poured with an alright head and even a little lacing, which is surprising given abv. An immensely strong aroma, but smelled extremely sweet from alcohol and sugar. The flavor was cloyingly sweet and the taste was strikingly similar to maple syrup. Really. It was thick, but I didn’t want it to be. The syrupy taste just stuck to the inside of my mouth and I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. So sweet, I had very little desire to finish my portion, even though it was a 12 oz bottle shared with three people (oh, thanks to eaglefan538 for saving me $8 to buy this). Now, this beer had the unfortunate luck of being tasted alongside Stone Russian Impy and AleSmith Speedway, but even isolated, this beer isn’t good.

Bottle from BevMo. Batch 3 (11/07). Black in color upon pouring. Strong roasty smell that is somewhat sweet. Quite a bit of alcohol. Rich flavor with a slightly fairly sweet maltiness. Decent amount of hoppiness, but it is a little masked by the alcohol. Quite warming as it goes down. Too young, but still pretty good. I’d imagine you could lay this one down for a bit.

Batch 3, bottled November 2007. Indicated ABV of 16.00%. Wow this is a great beer, truley something outside the realm of a stout. Aroma is strongly roasted coffee with some brown sugar, hazelnut, cherries and hazelnut, with some light yeast apparent at temperature. Color is a very very dark brown, but close enough to black to make no difference. The head pour is small and brown, it goes away quickly but leaves ’okay’ lacing. Alcohol dominates the taste, which isn’t a bad thing. Tastes neearly like a barely wine till the finish which is a nice stout-y tasting finish. There is also a nice middle bit of the taste which is smooth and sweet with a slight hint of floral hops. Alcohol is high, but never harsh while sipping. Mouthfeel is extra creamy with a soft-creamy carbonation feel on the mouth. Excellent in my humble opinion.

(bottled Nov 2006, batch 2): Cool looking bottle (as most of Avery’s are). Pours a thick, viscous, pitch black body. Brown head, average & creamy, lasting, some lacing. Molasses and dark fruit aroma right off the bat. Inhaling deeper, some smoke, soy sauce. Some musk. A lot of scents here. Some brown sugar. Creamy fizzy dusty mouthfeel, very warming. Ashtray-like. Not overly powerful, not alcoholy. Some chocolate, some alcohol as it warms up.

WOOOOOOOOOWWWWW that’s a crazy beer! I am glad I shared this because I don’t think I could ever drink the whole thing. I was surprised at the 16%, you don’t taste it!

Bottle. Batch 2, 2006. Vacuous jet black pour, with a minuscule sandy tan head, although swirling it around helps out a bit. Licorice, alcohol, sticky malt, sweet acidic fruits and chocolate all hit the nose rather fiercely. Flavor is malts, coffee and alcohol. Basically nothing else. Stingy and too much of an alcohol burn. Not too drinkable.

Batch 3 Pours thick, black and oily with a smallish brown head. On first sip your palate is assaulted with dark roasted malts quickly followed by alcohol, with the oily espresso flavor lingering in your mouth. A great beer, but a bit over the top. Not sure if I will get it again considering the price, but its definitely worth a try.