Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

(Bottle, batch 3, at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-09-23) Black. Medium sized tan coloured head. Roastedness, liquorice, chocolate and alcohol in aroma. Full bodied, oily and dry palate with medium carbonation. Ash, roastedness, liquorice, alcohol, chocolate and bitterness in taste. Roastedness and liquorice in aftertaste.

Post-mondial Tasting. Couleur rouge méga foncée. pas pire collet. Arome de café alcoolisé trop fort. Goût de café doux et arrière goût d’alcool.

2006 vintage. Pours dark black with a surprisingly thick beautiful dark tan/reddish head. Aroma of light fruits- apple and pear. Tastes initially of dark fruits (more apple, pear, fig, prune, raisin), alcohol, and I got some sweet carmelly nougat in the swallow. Very thick and sweet and heavy. I thought it was very good for the high alcohol content, but the sweetness/heaviness was still a bit much for me.

Pours dark and thick and with very little head. Aroma is of brown sugar and alcohol. Taste is sweet, chocolately, and somewhat bitter with a very warm finish, but not caustic, which is what I was expecting from 15%. Bottle showed some signs of oxidation, but not horrible. Will re-rate a fresh bottle from the next batch. Good, but could use tweaking.

Bottled Jan ’06, Batch 1. Pours jet black with a thick light brown head. Strong red wine, dark fruits, roastiness and alcohol in the nose, intense. Whoa, very sweet and massive tasting. Flavor is heavy on the side of robust red wine and dark roasted chocolate followed by notes of plum, raisin, rum, dark cherries, molasses/brown sugar and roasted malt. Can’t figure out which hops were used in this. Very syrupy with a warming alcohol finish. Very full, round and lush on the palate with subtle carbonation; this one’s a sipper. Overall, a well-crafted, complex brew - just too much on the sweet side for me.

[Batch #2 sampled Feb 08 found in the store yesterday =) ] Huge aroma of raisins, chocolate, vanilla, licorice and surprisingly not a ton of alcohol. Pours like motor oil with an odd dark brown/purple thin head. Very sweet initial flavor, very warm. Follows with very dark chocolate and bitter coffee notes. The rum-soaked dark fruit description is pretty correct and it actually tastes like dark chocolate covered cherries. Finish is tangy, ashy and burns from the alcohol. Carbonation is a little harsh and the body is quite sticky. This is an in-your-face imperial stout without any balance. So mine was a year and 3 months old... I’m thinking it could have used a couple more years.

Batch #1. Consumed Fresh. The pour into my brandy snifter is pitch black with thin wisps of dark tan head. The aroma is rich with dark fruit and alcohol. The flavor is very rich and chocolatey. The flavor clings to the tongue and last for a long time. This beer is incredibly impressive. The alcohol is evident but integrated very well. Truely a masterpeice from Avery. 7/4/8/5/17

Batch #1, 3 years aged. This beer hasn’t changed much in 3 years. Reading my notes from the fresh bottle is almost an exact match for its current condition. Avery really showed their talent with this beer. Definitely something special. 7/4/8/5/18

Batch 4 12 oz bottle purchased from EZ Liquors. Pours an oily slick deep dark black with an average to large mocha foamy head. Aroma has lots of alcohol, dark fruits, figs..raisins..prunes..plum, dates. It seems to be a combination of dark chocolate diped cherries and rum balls. Palate is silky smooth and despite this one being served a tad to warm the alcohol, although noticeable and warming, was in check for a 15.92 ABV. Flavor is very sweet with lots of dark fruit and syrupy alcohol. I am suprised that this one does not have the classic roasted/burnt taste but the sweetness is really needed to balance out the almost 16 ABV. Time to grab another bottle or two to see how this will mellow out with a few years on it.