Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

***2005, Pours like iodine, clings to the sidewalls like a rabid bobcat. Smells of malted lead. Super full nectar. Very metalic in flavor with cooked leather, copper, cassis, espresso. This is very sweet with a huge hop on the finish that tries to knock out the sugar but can’t. Reminds me of a blend of 100yr old Vintage Porto and an ancient Madeira. More like a bloody kick in the mouth with a boot cooked in espresso. Overall; this brew will kick your ass. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my face kicked in over and over again, sip after sip, kick after kick. Do it, do it ! ***2006, Pours bloody black w/ a medium, semi creamy froth that just sits there. Aroma is thick and chocolatey sweet w/ a nice citrus rind kick. Full nectar like sludge w/ well integrated effers creating a thick and chewy texture lik unset chocolate fudge. Strong flavors of cocoa, roasted coffee bean, sweet molases, vanilla, chocolate cake bread, moderate strength espresso, and a little bit of hopsy citrus rind to help balance it out. The finish is long and chewy sweet w/ a nice bittering componant.

12 oz bottle pours a thick black with ruby hints and a thick chocolate milk shake colored head. First aromas are sugar and alcohol wow, lots of both. As it warms these aroma mellow and more roasted and sour aromas come out, but underneath them all the alcohol and sugar is the real back bone to the aromas as well as the taste. First taste is a thick sugar sweetness that fades to a brief chocolate dark fruity flavor before setting fire to your throat with alcohol. But luckily as it reaches room temperature the alcohol and sweetness mellow out a ton. Changing more than most any other beer that i’ve had. The first sugar sweetness rounds out with more roastedness before the complex dark fruit, cherries, chocolate, and carmel slide across your tongue. The alcohol finish then comes in but now only warming your throat instead of torching it. I could barely notice any oxidation, but the sharer of the bottle, drewbeerme, could taste a hint of it even though this was only 9 months old. Overall it is overly sweet and I think they’re trying too hard with this one. It should be bottle conditioned so it can age for about 4 years but alas it might well be a piece of cardboard by then.

Bottle batch 2 Nov 2006. Pours out black and ominous with a thin off white head. Just an explosion of alcohol, caramel, chocolate, and vanilla. Taste is a massive mouthful! Big chocolate malt, velvet smoothness that comes off like an after dinner drink on steroids. I definitely get the hints of cherry and rum in the flavor, also. Take this one slowly, its STRONG! Aftertaste is thick and lingering. An over the top beer from a brewery that specializes in this type of brewing. Boring beer drinkers will be freaked out by this, but this is a special beer that blows your taste buds to pieces and makes you want to keep searching for new and interesting beers.

2008 bottle. Pitch black appearance. Swirls VERY slowly with huge amounts of lacing. I was able to work up a pretty brown head that released a heavy roasted aroma. Very pleasing to smell. The mouthfeel is thick as expected and slow moving. Flavor - glorious tasting! A warming sensation immediately encompasses you at the first drink. Not harsh in the least, but intense beyond all measure. Roasted malts are tasted above all else. The finish provides a bitter roast that stays with you. This brew makes for a fantastic sipper. Great imperial stout that tingles all the way down.

i’m thinking this might have been too young. aroma is fruity, with some smokiness in the background. wow is this boozy! flavour is all booze! very warm going down your throat, but aftertaste is smoky, and bitter. over a decent stout. but like i said, i think its too young. re-rate. Batch One. Amazing, so thick, and creamy, loadsof raosted malt, and wicked dried fruit, and coffee, and big chocolate. The extra year on the batch one got rid of the alcohol harshness i tatses on the batch two. Great stuff.

Sampled @ Extreme Fest’06. Good nose, sweet, though not as big as I would of guessed. Ripe fruit, grape & cherry, chocolate. Dark brownish black color, nice head & lacing. Bitter sweet flavor, kind of soy sauce, cocoa, coffee. Big bite. Medium body, thick oily creamy mouthfeel, bitter sweet finish. Nice. I have a bottle to sample, just haven’t got around to opening yet.

WOW !!! What a beer !!! Pours like motor oil, pitch black and thick with a medium sized beige head. Aroma is of fresh oak barrels,bourbon,vanilla and dark sour cherries. Flavor is extremely rich and complex. Very sweet rich cherry taste covered in chocolate best describes the taste, with hints of vanilla, bourbon and expresso. Slight burn as it goes down, but it is pleasurable indeed. Outstanding imperial stout, one of the best I’ve ever had. A top 10 beer.

Black, blood like pour. Heretically large, dense, creamy brown head. Nose is espresso beans, dark chocolate, burnt wood, deceptively faint alcohol lurking in the darkness. Smells big. Smells wicked. Flavor is more complex, combining all of the above with dark fruits, dark sugar, licorice, caramel, subtle yeast and alcohol. Dry, alcoholic, slightly yeasty finish. Dry, roasty, bittersweet aftertaste. Full, smooth, creamy body. One of Avery’s best. I’m sad to hear this is the last of the demon series. Although, as the saying goes, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.......