Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Pitch black with a mid-sized, creamy, light brown head. Excellent retention. The nose is of smokey caramel, black cherries, leather, dark chocolate, vanilla rum and espresso. Molasses-sweet, vineous flavor with notes of sweet port and chocolate liquer. The high ABV is excellently hidden. Full-bodied and syrupy with medium carbonation. Finishes sweet and chocolatey with notes of singed fruit. Very much the DFH WWS clone. I really love both! World class brew!

Pours the darkest opaque black with a frothy dark tan, lightly-lacing head. Rich, complex, dark fruity plum, raisin and brown sugar aroma has lots of molten dark chocolate. Body starts with lots of sweet sticky sugary malt, some bittering hoppy balance and a very warming alcoholic finish with some sticky lingering roasted malt. Really could hide its alcohol better and use a little more viscosity (over-attenuated perhaps), otherwise very nice. This should age really well.

do you know when you can be sure your steppparents like you ? It’s when they bring you a Mephistopheles Stout from Washington DC back to Europe ! - pours a pitch black colour under a little, brown tainted foam; a stupendous, rich and complex aroma invades the nose: dried fruits (mainly raisins), alcohol, anise and wood escort the strong notes of black chocolate; roasted but not too much; thick and enormously tasty, very sweet and full-bodied, strong bitterness; long creamy, toasted chocolatey finish with hints of cherry, licorice and molasses and a huge warming alcohol kick - this stuff is gigantic, excessive, too sweet and definitely lacking of balance but I love it !

Bottle. Looks mean, almost black in colour, tanned head. Super sweet aroma. Lots of sweet chocolate, slight caramel and nut characters, then a sweet and roasty, bitter finish. The mouthfeel is quite smooth, and very sweet, way too sweet for me. Alcohol is noticeable, but i would have guessed it may have been lighter. Too sweet in the end.

Bottle courtesy of Madsberg. Black colour with a light brown head. Light roasted coffee bitter aroma with fruity and chocolate sweet notes and hints of molasses and vanilla. Chocolate sweet and fruity flavor with vanilla and light alcohol sweet notes.

Bottled. 15.1%ABV version. Very black coloured. Cherries, almonds, chocolate, dried fruits, liquor and toffee in the aroma. The same stuff in the flavour plus loads of other things. Sweet. Extremely complex. Towards the finish it gets quite hoppy and dry. Very full bodied. Very smooth and soft mouthfeel. Very well balanced. The alcohol is smoothly hidden. Excellent.

Bottle, 2006 vintage (#2), 16.03%. When opening the bottle, a burnt, chocolate aroma immediately finds its way into my nose, leaving anticipations of something wonderful. The oily pour does it best to strenghten the anticipations, filling my glass with a black liquid, topped by a dense, finger-thick tan head. The head diminished slowly, but it never disappeares, there’s always a thin layer of bubbles covering the beer. The aroma feels quite sugary when inspected closer, but with all that burnt malt, chocolate, coffee and dried fruits, it’s needed. There’s a touch of alcohol and licorice in it as well, and there’s molasses too. The hops, who must be there somewhere are well hidden in the aroma, but more evident in the flavor. That’s a pity, I love it when my stouts smell a bit like sticking your head deep into a hop-sack. In the mouth, it’s thick, oily and warming, with flavors of heavily roasted coffee, dark chocolate, lots of sugar, a pleasant hoppy bitterness trying to balance the wast amounts of malt, and there’s also dried fruits and, of course, alcohol. It leaves an alcohol bite in the mouth, deliciously combined with bitterness from both hops and the burnt malt. As the glass is emptied, I find a fragrant touch of vanilla in both the aroma and flavor, almost like if it was oaked, and reading the commercial description, the thoughs of rum-soaked raisins comes to my mind. Even thoough it took me close to one hour to finish this 12oz bottle, I felt like I was drunk. Damn, I love those rather unbalanced, strong, dark beers with all its flavors and aromas, and even though I never drink to get drunk, (that doesn’t say I don’t get drunk) they give this good feeling of being relaxed and slightly out of control with my own mind and body. It cost me 66.6 DKK to buy this bottle at the lovely shop Ølkonsortiet in Aalborg, Denmark. I think that’s a fair, appropriate price:-). Hell, after finishing this one on a warm, March afternoon (warm to Norwegian standards that is), I feel almost as content as I could be.

One could ask what could have been done better with this one. First thing that comes to my mind is that there should have been more evident hops, meaning both hoppy bitterness, flavor and aroma. Especially the latter. Second, the alcohol could be toned down a bit. It’s not annoying, it’s just a little bit too much of it. Third, maybe it could be more complex. It might be just that it’s a bit low on hops, but I’m not sure. And finally, the bottle should be bigger. :-) All that being said, as I fought my way to the bottom of the glass, I raised my rating from 4.1 to 4.5, and I don’t think a bigger bottle would have lifted my rating, but at least it supports the idea of not rating at festivals and tastings. (Even though I do rate at festivals and tastings.) Big thx to Avery for brewing Mephistopheles. (080316)

A fine ring hovers over the opaque darkness...An alcohol volcano bursts from within the gigantic mokaccino mountain...A residual sugar trail leads to a roasting, burning forest, fueled by port wine...Very sweet, huge, yet somehow this time around I can appreciate the choice of flavors, whereas I nearly gagged on a young Samael...