Avery Mephistopheles Stout

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

12oz. bottle Nov 2007 Batch 3 (from Ledger’s Liquors, Berkeley, CA). This pours one seriously thick head, especially considering the amount of alcohol in this!! Very thick body. Wonderful "dark" malty aroma that pours up from the glass. Flavor is one for the ages too. Obviously packed with lots of alcohol, but not an unpleasant alcohol. Warms the tongue just by rolling some of it over the tongue. Flavors like dark brown sugar and raisins. Reminds me of a burnt Meyer’s Rum even, though not as sugary. Says its an imperial stout, but has lots in common, flavor-wise, to a Belgian Quad. Lots of hops on the palate in the aftertaste, which is perhaps the only achiles Heel for me. I wish it was a little software in the aftertaste.It if weren’t so blasted expensive ($10/btl!!!) I’d buy several to put away and age as I think this one is going to mellow over a few years.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle picked up at Total Wine in Spokane
Appearance: Thick black with a medium sized tan head and some lacing
Aroma: Roasted malts, dark chocolate and coffee
Taste: Roasted malts, dark roast coffee and chocolate
Very good

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 8

12 oz bottle, batch 1, Jan, 2006. Poured with a complete absence of color, dead dark soulless night with tan head. Aroma starts out with a bit of alcohol then just after that the smokiness, dark chocolate, coffee and maple syrup enter the picture. Flavor, where to start? Chocolate, molasses, Vermont’s best maple syrup, sweet caramel malts and sweet fruity cherries/grapes. Thick viscous mouth feel that coats the inside of my mouth with a pleasing maple syrupy aftertaste. Buried beneath a mountain of complex sweetness is a murmur of hop bitterness yearning to be heard. As the beer warms the flavors of alcohol and maple smokiness intensify. Every time I test the aroma it seems to change. I think I smell alder wood smoked salmon. Eventaully the sweetness piled up and I only finished 6oz. No problem, 6 more oz for another day. Giddey-Up!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

33cl bottle shared by Arve_Christian - thanks a lot! Pours dark brownish with a beige head. Aroma of dark chocolate, roasted malt and hints and licorice. Moderate sweet with tasty roasty notes and mild bitterness in the finish. Nice one!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle trade with boboski: Poured a dark black brown color with a thing beige head. The aroma was alcoholy with hits of rum, fruit, and coffee. The flavor was very exciting to my tongue. I could taste the sweet rum and dried fruit, but also finished with a zippy tangy alcoholic grape/wine.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Shared 355 ml bottle at local tasting. Vintage 2007, ABV is 16%. Black colour, small tan head. Intense aroma of fusel and soy sauce, also roast malts and tar. Sweet flavour, intense malty and roasty notes, also molasses and liquorice.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

I picked this bottle up from Wine Gourmet in Roanoke, VA. This beer has been on the list for a while. It is also my first beer from Avery. I was VERY impressed. This beer was big, malty, and littered with heat. The booziness is to be expected at 16.7%, but it showed up big time on the back end. That is being nit-picky. The aroma is a tad on the boozy side too. I'm okay with this in bourbon barrel beers but not in the non-barrel varieties. Either way, I am splitting hairs. This was a TREMENDOUS beer. Sampled 12 oz. on 12 April 2012. (Annual release; Nov. 2011; batch no.: 7; 768 cases)

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Thinkin this is a bit more hype than what it is. Solid brew, and fairly drinkable for the high ABV%. I wanted to try this first before sampling my DFH Worldwide Stout. Super-dark black, with not that much carbonation or head. Flavors of chocolate, toffee, coffee, anise, etc. Not rushing to try this again, but glad I did so that I compare to some other strong imperial stouts.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bought this years ago and just never got in the mood to drink it despite seeing it in the fridge constantly. Bottled Nov 2007 batch 3. Pours deep black with a surprising good amount of foam considering the age and strength. Has a very brown color to the foam and decent lacing. Aroma is not harsh at all for 16% abv. Roasted malt dominates the aroma with hints of molasses and licorice. What really interests me is the mouthfeel. It's very heavy and very warm but not as if it's filled with alcohol. I can feel with my hand that the glass is cold, yet my mouth is tricked into thinking it's warm, with no alcohol burn. Hints of cocoa came out as it warmed but I was hoping it would be a tad more complex than it is, but it's still very good.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Pours more like milk than beer, black color with chocolate head. Roasted smells with chocolate and some smoke. This is a big beer with lots of warming alcohol all the way down. Strong flavors of coffee and molasses and booze. Great for a cold winter night, bad for a hot summer day.