BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 001)

Formerly brewed at BrewDog
Style: Imperial Stout
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Name: Paradox 001 Islay
Date: 10/02/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta

Appearance: black, thin beige head, bits of lace,
Aroma: big scotch aroma with a strong woody and smokey character, dry dark roasted malt,
Flavor: rich roasted malt flavor, lots of bitter dark chocolate, complex wood character, lots of smokey scotch, the dark chocolate and scotch combine with the wood for a long bitter finish,
Overall: a bit over the top with the scotch

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

Paradox parallel tasting, as Batch 006
Black color; nice head, but not persistent; I expected a bottle conditioned beer, but this one is filtered. Aroma of Scottish Single Malt, smoked, but unfortunately there is also a presence of something chemical, that takes some time to disappear; this is the only one of the three to smell Scottish. The mouthfeel of this one is rounder than the #7 and #5, with some sweetness; in the front there is a sweetish caramel flavor, that turns into a stronger mix of dark chocolate and some roasted malt, all this with a light whisky smokeyness; the final has a rising roasted malt perception, with some rhubarb; luckily for me, when warmer, it gets way rounder and with less roasted malt, much better!

[To celebrate my 2000th rating] Pitch black with medium beige head. Aroma has roasted malt, smoke and whiskey notes. Sweet flavor with fairly hard roasted malt, caramel, smoke, wood and Islay whiskey notes.

Bottle at Chris_o Shindig. Very deep brown, thin beige head. Peaty, iodine medicinal. Decent stout, but too iodiney. I hate it. But I will give it a 5 for appearence just for Jens Ungstrup.

Bottled
Dark ruby brown color, small cappucino head. Very intensive whisky nose: vanilla, oak, smoke and tar. Flavor does not match totally with aroma - whisky notes are toned down. It has loads of tar, licorice and other roasted flavor plus some odd vegetable (beans?) notes. Aroma is definately super, for flavor I can’t decide if I really enjoy this or not.

Score given for batch 001. Both 001 and 006 are black with a red hue and a small, nougat colored dense head. Batch 006: Aroma: roasted malt, peat, smoke, tar, whisky. Flavour: Roasted malt, burning peat, smoke, tar, burn plastic, a light sweetness. The burnt plastic is do dominating. Batch 001 – courtesy of Cgarvieuk. Aroma: smoke, roasted malt, peat, soil, tar, wood and hints of burnt plastic. Flavour: Peat, smoke, tar, soil, wood, hints of whisky, chocolate and only a little burning plastic. Much more complex and well balanced than batch 006 IMO.

Bottle @ thewolf tasting. Pours pitch black with a creamy beige head. Aroma of smoke, wood, medicine and whisky. Bit flat stickish mouthfeel. Flavour of roasted malt, smoke, whisky and some vanilla. Needs more body.

3rd LCRBM. Raisin and peat (like Islay single malt whisky) in the aroma. Islay malt peat in the flavor. Medecinal. Band aids. Absolutely great beer ( I do like peaty single malts).