BrewDog Paradox Grain (Batch 013)

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Imperial Stout
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

A lot of history in a bottle. 1966! Almost still black liquid. High octane aroma with a nice paint-like stout backing. Starts out thin but then the mouthfeel seems to inflate through the sip into the aftertaste developing a silky feel. Starts out alcohol. then silky stout, then back to alchol. Alcohol and bits of charcoal, licorice and bitter chocolate. Seems less complex than others in the series but nice.

Pours dark inky brown, completely black in the glass, with a thin tan head, little lacing. Rich coffee aroma, vanilla, chocolate, plum, and woody. Full bodied, smooth, low carbonation, lightly dry. Flavors of dark chocolate, coffee, toast, vanilla, bourbon, smoke, and oak. Unobtrusive mild bitter finish balances out the finish. Huge, surprisingly well-balanced flavor, alcohol presence is well hidden.

In short: A smooth peaty imperial stout with a lot of wood barrel and a lacklustre body. Ok beer.
How: Bottle 12oz. Age unknown, consumed 8 months before expiration date
The look: Black body with almost no head
In long: Quite a bit of barrel on the nose. Tastes is smooth and the beer is surprisingly not very tasty (relative to the style). Lots of wood barrel, very sweet, some peat, some dark fruits, some vanilla. Alcohol is apparent. No roastiness to be found here. I didn’t think any whisky flavours were coming through, just plain wood barrel. After taste of wood barrel. Body is disappointingly thin for a 10% impy stout and the carbonation is too soft. A moderately enjoyable wood barrel extravaganza. Not the greatest of the Brewdog Paradox brew, some say that brewing Batch 13 is bad-luck, but I thank my lucky star I’m not superstitious.

BATCH: 013 BEST BY: 02/02/10 This pours a super dark brown color. There isn’t much of a head at all, just a small island of bubbles, in the middle of the surface. Lacing is in small spots and tiny strands and fairly sticky. The bourbon notes and the maltiness really achieve a very good level of balance, in this one. Malt notes are both sweet and roasty. Nice presence of oak, vanilla, honey and a hint of floral. Mild hints of caramel and cocoa powder and peat smokiness. This is the best, most balanced, nose that I’ve yet to find from any of the Brewdog Paradox series. The taste is almost as good as the smell. A nice, rich, maltiness is balanced by the dry, light smokiness, that is imparted by the barrel aging. Hints of cocoa, tobacco, vanilla, leather, oak and light touches of dark fruits. Light notes of blackstrap molasses. I really think that mouthfeel is where these beers fall short. This one is a medium, almost full, bodied beer. It has a very light level of carbonation. Sure, it’s smooth and easy to drink, just like water or juice. It’s sadly lacking any real creaminess, which I think is a shame. Then again, I didn’t make the beer, so who am I to complain. As far as that goes, I will buy their beers, whenever I can, because I do enjoy them. I’m knocking of a bit for the lack of any real body. Other than that though, I could personally drink quite a few of these. Until that 10.00%abv knocks me down, that is.

33cl bottle, side-by-side tasting with Batch 005. Minimal tan head atop coal brown-black body. Aroma is moderately sweet, wood, caramel, chocolate, some vanilla, alcohol, light peat. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, caramel, some alcohol, light peat, anise. Watery medium-full body.

batch 13 best before 02-02-2010 poured brown, settlled very dark brown almost black, thick small light brown head. aroma of wood, whisky, coffee, roasted grains, dark chocolate. aroma is really very very nice, the whiskey notes shine through making the imp much deeper. flavor is very well blended, notes of licorice, roasted grains, whisky, dark caramel, wood. the 10% alc. percentage is very well hidden. this is very flavorfull and very tasty. faint weird bitterness somewhere in there keeps me from giving it 9 in flavor. ends dark roasted and slighlty coffe-bean-bitter’ish.

Bottle... Poured black with a thin, light brown head. Noticeable wine-like tones in the aroma, with dark malts. Flavors of cocoa and dark sugars with a smooth malt presence. Alcohol warmth and whisky kick in the finish.

Pours black with a few brown bubbles for a head. Aroma is chocolate, vanilla, a bit of roast malt, and coffee. Flavor starts lightly sweet, vanilla, brown sugar. Then hints of whisky, roast malt, bitterness that lingers, with a slight alcohol burn on the back of the throat.