Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Poured into a large bordeaux glass. Pours a visibly viscous black colour with a late-forming brown head with good lacing and legs like a fine brandy. The nose is vinous and woody with strong star anise, cherry and roasted espresso maltyness. This is an overwheling, seriously high gravity beer. It might as well be fermeted fudge. The flavour entertains suggestions of rum-soaked rainsins, baker’s cocoa, espresso, smoke, molasses, caramel, dark cherries and licorice with a decent amount of booze, but not as much as I’d expect from a 16% abv. Syrupy, thick body with perfectly matched, soft, yet tingly carbonation. An ENORMOUS, robust brew with trememdous flavour and body that’s o’ so satisfying. I would buy it more often if not for the price, which cost me 8$ a 12 oz.

12oz bottle from the Pizza Port bottle shop. Wow! One of the sickest labels I’ve seen on a beer. (If you’re not from Southern California, sick means cool). All giggling aside, this brew is no joke. Poured an almost midnight black with a creamy, milk chocolate brown head that thinned out and left some great lacing. Nose of alcohol, roasted coffee, cocoa dust, chocolate, and some candied dark fruits. Body was HUGE, sweet and chocolaty with a boozy bite to it. A great brew from a great brewery!

Pours a black coloured beer with a thin mocha head, and some nice lacing. Nose of molasses and alcohol. Hard tastes of dark chocolate and coffee and molasses. Full body, good carbonation and thick coating.

Pours like molasses a five+ finger brown head that fades very slowly leaving a good lace. Pitch black color. Light-medium carbonation and very bodied. Sweet molasses nose. Flavor is sweet molasses, roasted caramel, roasted coffee aftertaste; warming, very high ABV is noticeable. Why is the really good stuff wicked expensive? $8.20 for a 12oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, MA. Nov 06 batch.

Bottle, 16.03% ABV. Black with a beautiful brown head. Aroma of raisins, figs, dates and other dark fruits. Hints of coffee and a good amount of maltiness as well. Flavour is super potent - licorice, coffee, sweet caramel and cocoa tugged away in a very nice, thick body and a seducing layer of alcohol. A malty, strong bitterness leaves the tongue gasping for more, though it may be a bit overwhelming in the long run. I could have wished for more dark fruit in flavour to match the aroma and also a little more complexity in general, which is why it gets a nudge down. Nice beer though.

Good appearance. Dark fruity aroma. Well, this is a big SOB. I sort of dig it though. I thought I wouldn’t b/c I pictured nothing but alcohol flavor and nothing else; however, this actually has plenty of flavor, roastiness and body. Make no mistake though, there’s still plenty of that typical Avery alcohol flavor though which I could do without. Nevertheless, this a good BIG brew that I might drink on occassion.

12 oz Bottle claiming 15.1%abv, about 6 oz of which I could not finish. Lots of complexity and flavor but way too much residual sweetness left a cloying finish on my entire palate; IMO this is a major flaw.

[873-20071130] 12floz (w/ jerc, tupalev). Aroma of dates and raisins and a little boozy toasted malt. Black brown body with a medium-lasting foamy light tan head. Roasted sweet malty raisins and dates continue in the flavour. Oily slick full body is thick. Interesting but wow it is thick and boozy, not overpowering but subtly potent.