Lately it seems that there has been a lot of hubbub on the interwebs of beer regarding Avery Brewing. I had somehow assumed in my ignorance that this was just something we didn't get in Michigan. Anyhow one night when I popped into Siciliano's I asked about Avery, and sure enough, we do have it. So I picked up a bottle of The Czar Imperial Stout. If you hold it up to the light, it does become transparent, while not the darkest brew on the face of the earth, it's clearly an Imperial Stout. Deep red to the point of great beauty, its nose is very unique, malty, but not in the conventional sense. It smells like fresh mash, if you have ever been to a brewery when they just dumped their mash tun, or have homebrewed, you know what I mean. That heavenly sent that without question exceeds all smells in the universe. So I give it a pretty decent rating for smell, it also has a little bit of a cidery... oh hell it's just got that maltyness that's freaking awesome! Nice mouthfeel, malty notes to match the aroma, and just very well balanced. Not a lot of roasted malt notes - I am not a fan of roasted malt so that suits me just fine - it lacks the carrot flavor of some stouts, and it has limited burnt caramel notes. So while it differs from say Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in character; this is just simply an excellent stout, absolutely amazing. As Imperial Stouts go I would be temped to put this in the top two with Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. I will have to do a horizontal tasting to place it for sure, but I think it rival Great Divides Yeti, and the gauntlet of Imperial Stouts in the arena.
So this leads me to Mephistopheles, their big bad Imperial Stout. I want to try it, somehow I doubt it comes around these parts. But if it does, I WANT ONE!
