Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Bottled. Pitch black with a small brown head. Quite vinous with notes of prunes, plums, brown sugar, raisins and hits of coffee and chocolate.

bottle. thanks for sharing, Len. This is great stuff - pours a deep dark black with a medium mocha-brown head. the aroma is all that you would expect in a nice imperial and more. tobacco, chocolate roast, toffee, cake, and alcohol. huge body and certainly presents itself as a slow sipper. flavours of roasty raisins, grape, and chocolate. lots of overpowering alcohol warm at times. BIG is one word to describe such a beast. I’d like to give this a try again sometime. Top notch. 9/4/8/4/16

Alright, so I’m trying this again almost a year later and I have to say that I don’t enjoy much anymore (same batch). The aroma is very heavy with chocolate, bourbon, and burnt caramel. The flavour is very ridiculously sweet, nearly medicinal, and quite harsh in terms of alcohol. After a few swigs I was still feeling the burn after a few minutes. 7/4/5/2/11

Draught@EBF 2008. Jet black, Low tan head. Dark roasted malts, alcohol, dried fruits, licorice and bitter chocolate in the aroma. Taste has a strong and sweet roasted malt base with a rummy accent. Coffe, chocolate and charcoal is there too. Thick texture, big body. Alcohol in the finish. Extremely powerful, and a little rough around the edges.

batch 3. 12oz bottle. incredibly dark oily pour under a medium sized, creamy, brown head. dark coffee, some cream and bakers chocolate, roast, molasses, rum, dark fruits(cherry, plum). flavor is quite similar to aroma with the slightest bit of tartness. full body and smooth. warming in the nose and throat.

Bottle. Deep black in color with a tan head. Malty and roasty aroma. Chocolate and caramel notes. Fruity. Raisiny, Plums. Malty and roasty flavor. Thick and rich tasting. Finish is chocolatety. Full bodied. Nice beer. Very drinkable.

Deep ebony. Compact layer of tan froth. Blackcurrants, molasses, ink, cookie dough, tar, and unsweetened chocolate invade the nose. Heavy swirls release hints of charcoal and roast. Substantial airiness quickly lifts the oily, viscid film from the tongue. Initially sweet and tangy with a meaty flurry of molasses sliced with a drying alcohol effect. Mammoth malt frame packs depth-lending accents of gritty roast, zingy acids, and black-chocolate bitterness which somehow manage to penetrate the sludgy body. Absolutely teeth coating and lip sealing, up until the woody malts, relaxed tannins, and alcohol-fueled dryness temporarily calm the sweetness. Fairly moist at the center, with a soy-like tang coupled with fresh pipe tobacco. Perceptibly sweet notes of brown sugar and candied currants lurk beneath. Quite inky and vinous, but lots of soppiness develops due to a resounding blackcurrant expression which stifles any espresso richness that might try to restore balance. Finishes inordinately dry, considering its size, as heavily understated but brash and crunchy char yield softly smoky and phenolic echoes. Phenols and vague fruity-hops ensue after each belch. Due to the bubbles being both hard and loose on the tongue, this suffers slightly. Yes it’s deep in a number of ways, keeping it from becoming too “kitchen-sinkish,” but I’d like to see this rely more on estery depth in lieu of the sugary sweetness that the turbinado unmistakably imparts.

Big alcoholic nose. Plummy, acrid body odor. Smooth and chocolatey, with a slight mocha espresso note. Appealing oily lacing and coating in the glass, blackish brown color. Pretty sweet as far as impy’s go, with a notable burnt sugar-molasses character.

Pours close to oil black with a soapy deep brown head. The aroma has a mix mainly of deep roasted malts and alcohol warmth. There is also dark fruits and red wine impressions as well as some vanilla and dark chocolate. Thich rich mouthfeel that is velvety and syrupy and not much carbonation to speak of. Taste is like roasty syrup. There is some brown sugar, mollases, vanilla, dark fruits and some vanillas along with the vineous aspect from the aroma. The finish definitely has some warmth to it, but not too much considering it is 15.1%.