Mephistopheles' Stout
Avery Brewing Company

Im sampling a cellar temp 12 oz bottle poured into my snifter. The beer is from batch 1, bottled in January 2006. Part of my cellaruary effort of 2023!
the beer pours a rich cola brown and sits like black coffee in my glass, no light passing through. I get zero carbonation on the pour and a few clingy bubbles stick to the edge of my glass, but it is certainly not a complete "layer". Looks still in my glass.
Aroma is rich and robust, even just from the cap popping. Rich dark chocolate fudge mixes with molasses and figs and raisin. I also get some light fusol booze, but this is very buried and the malts steal the nose. No hops anywhere.
First sip reveals a thick body with VERY fine and gentle soft carbonation. the carbonation does fizz up if I swirl the beer in my mouth. Beer also leaves some legs on my glass like a merlot each time I take a sip.
Flavor is rich dark chocolate fudge carrying the lead. This moves to some molasses and a bit of a tobacco and leathery note comes through in the middle. Dark fruit shows through briefly and then a bit of roast note pops up and lingers on the finish. Never any hops and no warming booze here either.
I enjoy this 17 year old beer and am glad to have a chance to share it. I remember really liking this beer when it was new and fresh and am honestly surprised I didnt have review posted from the past. Glad to have #Cellaruary to help encourage me to open these old treats!!

 

2016 vintage. Growler into pint glass. Pours an oily black with essentially no head. Initial impression is silky-smooth, thick, boozy, and impressive. Chocolate, coffee, and roasted malts in perfect balance with one another. Aged extremely well. Mouthfeel is slippery smooth, with plenty of body for even the most jaded Stout enthusiast. Finish is boozy but surprisingly clean and smooth (albeit with a bit of alcohol burn). Overall, an outstanding Imperial Stout - one of the best.

The best imperial stout, bar none, and I've had a few of them.

Unfreaking GREAT

 

 

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.

 

Complex stout much aroma a slight etoh and taste cherries coffee chocolate

 

Batch 12 Oct. 2016. Poured at 58 degrees. Rocky/mousse-like combo tan head; excellent cap retention, solid ring, medium heavy lacing; tons of suspended particles; tar black with ruby edges; thin legs. Roast malt, molasses nose; some fruity esters from the Westmalle Belgian yeast; boozy exhale. Bitter Baker’s chocolate; char; roast malt; black licorice; burnt brown sugar; dark chocolate on backend. Smooth feel, medium body; alcohol bite on tongue; full mouth warmth from 14.6% abv; dry finish. Overall, awesome multilayered flavors; some sharp alcohol, but the malt and yeast keep the booze in check; not keen on the floaties, but otherwise an impressive high gravity stout.

 

Wow, this is complex. Pours dark brown with a thick tan head that lasts. Aroma is mild chocolate. Flavor explodes forward with chocolate, roasted notes, some wine notes and a touch of dark fruit. Feel is great, smooth and pepper hot with some whiskey burn. Overall a big complex stout with enough booze for a few beers.

 

Purchased in oct 2020 for $10. Wow this is just an incredible beer. I like stouts but I love this beer. Big taste big feel big deal. Pours out dark brown with a tinge of deepest burgundy. Little head that dissipates quickly. Smells strongly of those dark fruits which is pretty typical. I’m getting raisin, date and maybe something like dried cranberry. The scent of alcohol also comes through pretty strongly. It’s a heavy dark scent. Taste begins with sweet cherries and chocolate, moving next into the raisin and date. Definitely a bittersweet wash to it. At the tail end a deep cocoa dryness comes through along with some alcohol. My palate feels quenched when I drink this beer, it is so warm and overwhelmingly complete of a taste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and moderately effervescent. Overall this would definitely work as a dessert in and of itself, or a nice pairing with chocolate as suggested by the brewer. I’m overwhelmed by the deliciousness of this beer and Give it a rare 5 star rating. I don’t know why Avery stopped brewing this. I’m definitely going to remember this beer and have it again.
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OOOOHHH! I loved this so much I just had to procure some older Mephistopheles in a beer trade. This one was bottled in Dec 2010, Batch 6, weighing in at 15.95% abv. Highly unusual to get such a high abv beer all the way back in 2010. This will offically be the oldest beer I've ever tried. 13 years old now. Now I love all things satanic, so I'm loving the dark look of the devil on the face of the bottle. We'll see how it stands up. I cracked open the red foil adorning the top of the bottle. Poured out a beautiful dark brown with a dark tan head that bubbled up a half inch before receding to the edges of the glass in quiet submission. I'm already a heavy barleywine in so my tastebuds are primed for this. Nose is quite fruity and sharp, raisin and prune, plum and fig. Malty. I feel like an old person sniffing their prune juice. Taste is bold and quite like roasty coffee, dark and strong, . Quite heavy malts, but not sweet, in fact quite wonderfully bitter, heavy, roasty. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and moderately carbonated. Overall this is like midnight starbucks rain bitter baking chocolate heavy steady demonic whips of a fiery tongue charring a log of firewood on a smoky campfire. Holds up superbly over the last 13 years, for a unique taste. This is NOT the Mephistopheles I tried in 2020, I know that. But nevertheless intriguing, mysterious, evasive, and evocative that incentivises me to award this top marks once again.

 

November, 2012 bottle. 16.2 ABV. Drank October, 2020 out of a very curvy tulip.

Aged beautifully. Poured dark black with some small head that faded, but left some brown head around the edge of the glass. Smelled of roast and char, taste was more mellow - kind of like really dark chocolate with a little char. I’m not usually a fan of roast and char, but there was just enough sugar in there somewhere to boost those two attributes up to make them absolutely acceptable, and delectable to me. Nicely alcoholic, especially as it warmed. A real old school stout. Feel was medium to thick bodied, very nice.

Overall - can’t believe how well this beer aged. A real treat.

From Batch 13 (October 2019). Pours into the glass and blots out any light that would threaten to filter in through it. The Head is dark brown, with some very neat lacing with moderate retention. Aroma is of heavily roasted malt, dark chocolate, and caramel, with notes of tree nuts and a deep, warm overtone. Taste follows - chocolaty, malty, and with notes of coffee rounding it out - the finish is smooth and leaves a lingering feeling of dark fruit covered with luxuriant dark chocolate. The high abv lends itself to the brew, giving it a warm feeling, and it is just heavy enough to linger on the palate long enough to appreciate its complex character without overstaying its welcome. The overall experience of Mephistopheles leaves one willing to renounce the heavens and the light and live on the dark side.

 

Oct. 2016 - Batch no. 12

Intense, dark, rich, roasty, notes of plum, blueberry, raisin, prune, fig, vinous black grape, chocolate covered cherry, anise, licorice, booze soaked dark fruits, black espresso coffee, baking chocolate, hints of sweet soy sauce, dark molasses, charred toffee, cooked caramel, toasted graham cracker, burnt brown bread, astringent roasted barley, woody ash, with earthy herbal piney hops

 

 

 

 

Pours black with two fingers of caramel foam that retains well, even after aging for nearly 3 years. Head retention is good. Aroma is deep and dark roasty, toasty, caramely, nutty, and earthy malts with a little hit of sticky, earthy hops right on the back. It's rich and full of depth with the dark personality of a dementor. Flavor profile is roasty, toasty and caramely malts with soothing and semi-sweet toffee, molasses, caramel and chocolate. It has dark, lightly bitter malts up front that crescendo into a smooth foundation for the decadent, semi-sweet backend. It works up and up, peaking and then fades away nearly instantly. At three year's old, the 14%+ ABV remains but a light ghost in the background, never distracting from the stout notes or charring or flaming the tongue. Mouth feel is thick with a chewy, heavy grain that is nearly chew-able. Overall, hearty and robust, this is one filling and flavorful stout that is focused on the quintessential stout notes, with nothing else to distract.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 12oz bottle.

12oz bottle. Red foil wrapped cap. 'ANNUAL RELEASE OCT. 2016 BATCH NO 12'.
Black colored body, with dark brown back lit edge. Two fingers of tan head, which leaves behind webs of lacing.
Aroma of dark roast coffee, chocolate, dark fruit, and high ABV%.
Taste of chocolate and dark roast coffee, with a back note of raisins and prunes, with alcohol wrapped around all.
Medium, creamy mouth feel. Good supportive carbonation.
Well curated high alcohol stout. Having to deal with the high ABV% requires a slow sipping approach, but each sip is rewarding with blended taste and smooth mouth feel.

 

Bottle aged an additional six months and still too boozy. This stout was interesting but still a little over the top on roasty char character.

 

 

 

2011 vintage. Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip. Clocking in at a hefty 16.43% ABV.

L: Inky black pour with a finger of brownish head. Falls fast with a nice ring of lacing.

S: Rich and roasty... dark chocolate and french roast coffee. Booze and fruit.

T/F: Follows the nose. Super complex... rich roasted sugars and grains. Rum raisin, cocoa, espresso, and anise. Boozy yet hides its massive ABV to some degree. Warming... smooth and silky. Sweet dark fruit, rum, and chocolate at the finish.

O: An outstanding and absurdly big stout from Avery. Far too drinkable... absolutely delicious, and perfect for a snowy January evening. An 8 year old beer from the cellar and still fantastic.

'16 bottle (retired)

Pours a dark cocoa murky brown. Some sediment. Small dark tan head. Settles to outer ring with dirty soapy lacing thru out.

Smells of raisins, burnt sugar, figs and a hint of alcohol.

Taste is actually closer to a strong ale then a stout. Maybe with its age the flavor profile has changed a bit. Never had it fresh so couldn't say. I know Avery stouts are more on the sweet side than most.
Taste is sugary. Some chocolate with more focus on a raisin/fig/date mouthful. Moderate alcohol taste yet no burn per say. Stale malts and some semi sweet dark cocoa on the finish. Definitely leaning more towards a strong old ale than a stout.

Medium body with a slick sticky mouthfeel. Low to medium carbonation.

Excellent complex stout.
Almost light a blended ale (imo)
Wish I could have had it fresh to compare.