Avery Mephistopheles Stout

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

November 2007. Bottle, aged approximately 1.5 years. Black body, with a small creamy brown head. Aroma is surprisingly fruity, with alcoholic undertones and malt. Sweet flavour has underlying fruit and light malt, very light acidity and bitterness in the finish. Dilute cherry notes. Full bodied, smooth palate. Less roasty than anticipated, and more fruity. Quite nice. 8/4/8/4+/17-18 - 4.2 <P>July 2006. Pours with a deep black body, and a moderate oily khaki head. Big alcoholic and fruity aroma of booze soaked raisins or grapes, milk notes of dark sugars. Perplexing first sip reveals a medium oily palate that almost *tastes* oily. Rich dark fruit with vague allusions to indulgent chocolate leads to fruit and slightly skewed roast that lingers long into the finish. The palate is intriguingly slick but not overtly thick. A contemplative sipper that takes a more refined approach to its plentiful helping of alcohol than some of its Avery kin. One of the most interesting beers I have sampled recently for sure. 9/4/8/4/17 - 4.2

Bought at the Blue Max. Well,it really is really dark. This is like a glass of oil with a thin layer of tan foam on top. I can’t believe how many different aromas are coming from this.Years ago I never would have been able to appreciate this.I think the most prevalent is the dark fruit port aroma,there are plenty more though. A little harsh on the throat and some what overbearing but loaded with wonderful treats for the tongue. After I let this warmup it,of course,changed and man was it complex.It is still a little harsh.

big thanks to zeswaft for sharing a bottle as my belated birthday present. really dark brown thick head. chocolatey appearance to be sure. largely chocolate taste as well. kinda funny flavours, very sweet, really alcoholic. not very coffeeish. vanilla, i think. surprising toffee finish lurks. palate reminds me of the speedway stout. the quality is evident, but i’m docking flavor for alcoholishness. makes me wanna try that lion stout again and see if it merits a higher rating than the 4.1 or whatever i gave it.

Had this in March. shared with flemdawg in florida. poured black, with a brown head. aroma, wow, dark fruits come out first than a big hit of chocolate and caramel, alcohol, some vanilla, coffee, malts. flavor another wow the caramel and malts come out than the alcohol, dark cherries, plums, almost port like. good beer

Pours a super dark jet black pour with neat little off white/light brown head. Nose is of wonderful coffee, some nice dark chocolate, alcohol and dark roast malt. Flavor is terrific, chocolate, cherry-ish. It is a bit hot, but that flavor actually comes across really well in this brew. A wonderful beer across the boards, would love to have a couple sitting around and see how it improves with time.

(2006 vintage) Pours black with a thin head. Aroma is very strong and inviting. Then you try it and WOW. The flavor is very powerful and complex, but not too overwelming for 16%. Has a lot of charactars such as caramel, toffee, malt, dark fruit, mollasses and oak. Extremely Good beer and worth the wait.

Batch 1, bought in Dayton, Ohio, I black bomb with a dark, tan head. At 15.1 %, I was surprised it had that kind of head. The aroma was of dark chocolate and the flavor began on the dry side but finished very sweet, almost as if it did not ferment all the way out. I’m not sure if this was intended by Avery, or the beer is too young and needs the benefits of aging. A very young beer with great potential, but for the price does not stand up to Bell’s Batch 7000.

Poured opaque oily black with a big full brown head. Very ominous yet inviting. Prunes, dates, salt roast, caramel, alcohol, smoke aromes all resulted in singed nose hair. Double strong coffee, prune juice, Reisin candies, soy sauce, and plenty of alcohol flavor. Rich and chewy with a long lingering burn. Sure this is a damn good beer, but I’m not sure it was worth all of the early hubbub.