Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Batch 3 (Nov 2007) bottle. Pours black with a fine brown head. The aroma has quite a bit of dark fruits, perhaps including cherry, chocolate, coffee, toffee, and alcohol. Taste is relatively similar, though the alcohol flavor is a bit more expressive than in the aroma-you can really taste the rum-and the anise is a very nice complement.

2008 bottle from whip in 117 in flower mound tx. poured black with a copper head. aroma was nice with dark fruits, vinous notes, caramel, chocolate, and coffee. flavor was awesome with all the same qualities as the nose with the addition of alcohol. the alcohol is masked pretty well for being near 16%. i might have to go pick some more up to cellar for a bit.

Bottle: Batch #4. Drank on my 8th wedding anniversary in San Diego. All 15.92% ABV let themselves be noticed in every sip, it will give you goosebumps every time. Not to crazy about the aroma it as some unpleasant off notes. Flavor starts off aggressive, spicy, hot, (no chocolate, sweetness here!). Rum / whiskey definitely present; a bit too licor-like for my taste. Finish is tough.

Small brown head. Black body. Alcoholic syrupy toffee aroma with chocolate notes. Intense dry-sweet alcoholic citric fruity roasty chalky taste with resiny notes. Sharp, hot mouthfeel from the alcohol. Dry chocolatey citric aftertaste with peppery notes. The citrus doesn’t entirely fit with the other tastes. Not bad, though. (Oslo beer junta tasting.)

330 mL into snifter. Holy mother 16%. Pours pitch black with a very thin dark brown, creamy head that disappears fairly quickly. Aroma is butter-pecan ice cream, chocolate covered cherries (yes), licorice/anise, oak, bourbon. Taste upfront is rum soaked cherries and espresso but midway through has a powerful spicy bourbon bite- almost like it has been aged with chipotle peppers. Ends with a bitter, roasted dryness that is almost like charcoal.....the low point of the beer. Very velvety, creamy on the palate.

My first review. Had the 07 batch in a bottle. Very strong alcohol burn, covered well by coffee and chocolate flavors. Worth the price.

A rich, light-smothering black with a thin bubbly brown head that lasted about the ten steps from the kitchen to the living room. The aroma is very pronounced and packs a punch with loads of blackened (beyond "roasted") coffee beans and anise, almost no alcohol appears in the nose. Taste is sweet and nutty, with the licorice hiding behind it. Alcohol follows, since it’s hard to hide 16%, but smoke, dark chocolate, and the espresso flavors try to soften it in the finish. The only limiting factor here is the super-high ABV which makes it less palatable than other ISs. If it were dialed down to 12% I think this would be world-class! Still, a very solid beer and worth a taste, even considering the price.

Batch 4 is very nice. I love rich sweet stouts, and this one packs a wallop. The inkiness draws me in and wraps me up in the wonderful world of stout. What a great year for great beer!