Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Bottle, batch #4: I don’t usually go for stouts but the label made me buy it. I get a good amount of chocolate and coffee in the aroma, along with something almost fruity or floral. The appearance lives up to its name.. I doubt the devil’s heart is any blacker. I find the flavor to be sweet actually.. common of stouts? I wouldn’t know. I definitely experienced alot of hops, which is good because I love hops. Overall, the sweetness and richness of the flavor balance the high alcohol content, but I would have liked more aroma.. something to cut through the dark richness besides just alcohol fumes. But then that would be too perfect and I would kill myself drinking too much of it! Dark.. coffee.. stroooong. I feel raped.. I love it!

Bottled @ København Ølfestival 2009. Aroma has rasin, chocolate and is quite fruity. Black coloured beer with a beige head. The taste is sweet with a chocolate bitter finish. It is full of raisins and plums. Toffee there. It has a heavy alcoholic burn in the finish, which is not good. The beer has a lot of potential, only if the alcohol is not that much present.

Bottle at CBF. Pours pitch black with a brown head. Aroma is liquorice, roasted malt, espresso and vanilla with weak notes of dark fruits and alcohol. There is lots of dark chocolate in the flavour but also espresso, liquorice, dark fruits and roasted malt. All ending in, at first a alcoholic, but then a liquorice and coffee bitter finish.

A blackish countenance with incredible dark foam that gives an evil sizzle, then it is gone. I am drinking this at room temperature, so the alco is hot. Aroma raisin alcohol rich coffee. Flavor is whored-up USA Stout with plenty of dark malts, vanilla, dark pruney fruit (I like the ’brandied compote’ reference) coffee and so on. Aftertaste raisins hops and alcohol singing on the tongue. I am catching a buzz a little too quickly! I need a breather and will drink the second half chilled, but at first glance I say this is a) pretty good in the extravagant ’whored up’ USA stout fashion and b) not particularly unique or interesting in that regard, in the way Goose Island Bourbon County was amazing for its incomprehensible layers and reason to be so audacious. The alcohol is slightly ruinous of the palate. Still - I like this. Sorta. I’d buy it again maybe to regale friends, not to seek the puffy stout-y comfort I find in the Impys of Nøgne Ø, Péché Mortel and Black Albert, . -- later, more chilled - cooling it down brings up the hops and COCOA (yeah!) of this powerful beer, and makes it permeate the sinuses, Obviously better structure than room tempe, Despite the ludicrous alcohol this is a decent beer Bottle $7.25 at the excellent NEW BEER in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Poured pitch black with a brown head. Raisin and dark fruit aroma. Very sweet. Creamy chocolate, roast malt and dark fruit. Rich and complex. Maybe a bit too sweet, but I love sweets.

(2006 vintage) Pours black with a thin head. Aroma is very strong and inviting. Then you try it and WOW. The flavor is very powerful and complex, but not too overwelming for 16%. Has a lot of charactars such as caramel, toffee, malt, dark fruit, mollasses and oak. Extremely Good beer and worth the wait.

Bottle, aroma is chocolate and what I thought to be dusty as well but it was very nice. Strong alcohol taste with cherry and chocolate notes complimented with roasted malts, dark sugar and a little bit of hops. This was very tasty.

Bottle from La Bodega...Pours black with a light brown lacing head..Smell is chocolate, coffee, smoke, oak, caramel and alot of booze... This one started off very harsh but I ended up really liking it as it warmed up.. There is alot of dark chocolate in the flavor along with some salty caramel going on..Nice alcohol burn with what seemed like alot of carbonation for an Imperial Stout but very good none the less.