Mephistopheles Stout
(has 2 batches)

Bottle courtesy of Marsiblursi. Batch 2, 2006 vintage. Pours pitch black with a rather small fizzy dark brown head that quickly dissipates without leaving any trace on the glass. Smell is intense, slightly sweet, fruity and oxidized with roasted malts, raisins in rum, bitter chocolate, leather, alcohol, prunes, dates, salty liquorice candy, dark roast coffee, moist soil, red wine, soy sauce and hints of cardboard and hay. Taste is sweet, bitter, tiny sour, malty, fruity and heavily oxidized with roasted malts, bitter chocolate, cardboard, the dust you’ll find places you haven’t cleaned for ages, prunes, raisins, cheap red wine, moist soil, leather, old stale soy sauce, burnt caramel, charred wood, dark roast coffee, sour cherries, alcohol, sherry and hints of goji berries. Mouthfeel is fat, oily, boozy, round, tiny fruity tart and full bodied. Finish is bitter, tiny sour, malty and fruity with roasted malts, cheap red wine, hay, moist soil, leather, bitter chocolate, raisins, prunes, dark roast coffee, alcohol, sour cherries, burnt caramel and hints of sour cherries. 50% of the sips is awesomely oxidized sherry imperial stout goodness. The other 50% of the sips are an oxidized carboard, leather cheap red wine mess. An exiting experience thanks to the rotting skills of Mr Blursi. Thank you man! --- Beer merged from original tick of Mephistopheles' Stout on 12 Mar 2014 at 07:42 - Score: 7. Original review text: Batch 2, 2006

Batch 4 - 2008 Aroma is very rich and malty. Lots of dark chocolate and milk chocolate with balanced roast. There is a smoked meat bordering on soy sauce note of medium low strength. Not much fruit in the aroma but a hint of cherry. Medium low leather and tobacco notes. Pours a deep black with only faint dark brown notes on the edges. Almost no head, but what there is looks to be dark mocha colored. No lacing and big legs. Flavor is very rich with a big chocolate note that recedes to roast and coffee. The roast has a smoke note to it but no soy sauce like in the aroma. Low dark cherry notes. Moderate tobacco and leather character. This is a very dark stout, but it becomes a bit fruitier as it warns with some plum and cassis notes. Moderately strong alcohol note with medium bitterness. Finish has dark fruit, alcohol spice and roast with a medium low oxidation note. Mouthfeel is full bodied with low carbonation. Low but noticeable astringency with medium high alcohol warmth. Overall a fairly good very dark stout but I think it might be a bit old at this point. The soy sauce deters from the aroma and the oxidation in the flavor has a cardboard character.