Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

Bottled @ Sk8vikings blind porter/stout tasting. Beer no.8: Pitch black coloured. Light brown dense head. Sweetness, alcohol, light roast, dark fruits and cocoa in the aroma. Some spicy notes. Flavour is herbal, sweet, roasted and has soem spices as well. Is quite full bodied. Ends on a dense bitter and roasted note. Very sharp and wild beer, that is a tad too sweet for me, but I’ll definately come back to it, when it hits Jeppes shelfes some day.

12 oz bottle shared with beastiefan2k and dickinsonbeer at Spuyten Duyvil. Dark black beer with a dark brown head. Very unusual aroma, quite boozy and a bit petroly (like some aged white wines). Very floral and light smelling for something that is so black. Underneath is some toffee, yeasty esters and some spiciness as well. The spice and molasses intensify as the beer warms up. Flavour though is all booze. Really alcoholic and hot tasting, which masks the nice burnt sugar and toffee that I can taste behind it. Fairly sugary palate as well, despite all of the booziness. Some really great flavours in this beer, but in the end it’s too damn hot to be enjoyable. I’m in the minority on this one, but I didn’t enjoy this one at all.

Pours out medium-dark brown in color with a proper-sized medium brown head. Instant fuesal hot aromas of granola, alcohol covered cherries, alcohol covered plums, sherry, port, caramel and maple, sugars everywhere, with some more alcohol covered red grapes... you get the idea. Thick and overly sweet are my first taste impressions. Mildly gritty texture across the tongue. Creamy mocha flavor, along with mildly-hot amaretto and alcohol infused cherries. Similar to the Samael’s, this tends to froth up while in the mouth... not exactly what I want an imperial stout to do. Where’s the body? Where’s the chewy, viscous thick coating? It’s not there. I’m disappointed. Not thick enough by a long shot. The alcohol isn’t so much apparent in the flavors, really only the aroma. But the sweetness is ridiculous, and just like with Samael’s, it’s the downfall of this one. A mocha coffee and earthy soil flavor attempts to be noticed, but it’s basically swimming in sugar so forget about it. Another over-rated imperial stout. I imagine that if you eliminated a lot of the residual sugars it would really jump a few pegs. You people must be insane to call this thing balanced. It’s Samael’s with a little chocolate.

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)

January 2006 bottling, Batch 1: May the gods save us from this demon ale! Damnably drinkable dark brown brew crowned by a falling, burnt umber head that transforms into a dark halo in a final mockery before it fades completely. The aroma is an amorphous blending of prunes, seared raisins, licorice, alcohol, a sharply bitter malt, burnt barley, strong coffee, bitter chocolate, charred oak, and a light floral hopping. Well, forget the hopping. I was possessed when I wrote that. This is smooth to drink, slowly burning the tongue as it goes down. A stabbing rum-like sweetness stabs forward in the tasting, surrounded by a legion of flavors reflected from the aroma. The finish is a prolonged bitter-sweetness with a low alcohol burn.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
EVIL!

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Ok, lent is over and now it’s time for a little more serious rating. Appearance is an instant 5. Any beer with a two tone head tan on top, brown on the bottom should also get style point. Body is a dark brown, with a hint of chestnut coming through on the edges. Sweet ripe dark fruit slathered in dark chocolate and molasses. Prunes, dark cherries soaked in dark rum seem to cover a few of the scents. At times it seems a touch to sweet on the nose, but I’m sure age will help correct that. Slightly hot on the palate from the start, but smooth and silky enough to help carry it through. Sweet malty goodness all through the quaff. Anise and dark caramel and chocolate on the front of the tongue. The middle is filled with ripe cherries and a whole fruit salad. Finish is spicy, hot and fitting. Mild licorice and liquor courses through the system. I have a hard time calling this an imperial stout, more an imperial strong ale, but a fine snifter brew. A few shall find the back of my cellar and will be enjoyed several years from now.

Dusseldorf Gathering, Bottled, says 15.1%. Avery shows that you can make a very powerfull and extreme but still good beer like many US breweries try too but don’t really succeed. They go over the top, Avery doesn’t. Very good beer. Very strong aroma with chocolate and coffee liquor most dominant. Black color, light brown head, good lace. Extremely sweet, moccha liquor, roasted bitter. Thick, viscous and syrupy. You’ll need all evening to finish it but it’s a good evening.

Bottle: Pours a dark black color, thick tan head. The nose is bright with lots of charcoal, soy sauce and alcohol. The flavor is nice and sweet, plenty of alcohol, smoke and charcoal, lots of plum, roasted chicory. The finish is a bit brash, smoke, leather, char. Nice. A bit strong, but still respectably balanced and complex.