BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 001)

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

Bottle. Incredibly dark ruby color with a large tan head. Smoky peat aroma. Very. Medium plus body with mild carbonation. The flavor is smoke. Tar. Smoke. Creosote. Malt. Coffee. Strong s---. Finish is pretty much the same. Doubtless harsh to some.

Bottle at home ... solid black ... smokey malt touch burnt nose ... touch of iodine ... roast malts ... overly smokey ... big burnt linger like licking burnt toast. Again in tasting tutorial at Edinburgh beer festival 07.2nd bottle much the same mostly burnt tones. There no way i could drink even half a bottle of this. This is a really strange beer, in that everyone here seems to like it. But 90% of non ratebeers ive let try it or spoken to who have tried it, really havent taken to it at all. Well now its had a wider sampling it does seem to split people. Just not my thing

March 2007Chris_o Shindig. Lots of hop bitterness introducing a smokey burn. Some cut grass left in the damp for a couple of days. Oaky with whiskey notes. Balsamic vinegar and imperial stout notes with savlon and dentists room. An interesting beer - though perhaps too much happening and not quite enough pleasantness. OK though. [3.4]
Feb 2008330ml bottle from Gretna Green. This is a filtered product, but not pasteurised. It tastes like what you’d expect from an Imperial Stout that had been left in a peaty whiskey cask for a while. The extra flavours and aromas the peat whiskey adds to the base beer certainly add interest and pleasure to what feels like a fairly run of the mill Imperial Stout. It’s like it needs the extra character of the whiskey to lift it out of the ordinary. However, full credit, it does lift it out of the ordinary. Not quite into the realm of something special like Harvey’s Imperial Stout or the Courage Russian Imperial Stout, but certainly higher than average. It’s a shame that the beer is filtered because the lack of living yeast character is noticeable - the beer itself is pleasant, but dull. The whole thing is certainly highly, highly enjoyable - and I feel I got a little more pleasure, flavour and satisfaction out of this sample than I did during the hurly burly of the sampling at the Chris_o Shindig. [3.6]

Bottle. I clicked on batch 006 and came here I do not know why. Never mind. Hed: Non-existant. Body, well I guess I have to write black this time. Oak aged smoky strong alcohold aroma. Sorry mates I really do not like it. Well the flavor is much better though. Smoky seaweed with notes of whisky, tar, coffee and sour something I do not know what. Complex spicy and lovely with a low carbonation and a long aftertaste. This is good, the alcohol percentage is high and indeed present. Another beer for my storage.

Thanks to Craig for the bottle (Batch 001)! Poured medium-deeper brown with a short cap of beige head. The aroma opened with fluffy smokey wafts and tobacco from the seemingly smooth whiskey.. vanilla and charred baker’s chocolate behind, but tobacco and peat really stole the show. The flavor was along those same lines.. drier chocolate, tobacco, and wet, grainy earth meet smoked peat and charred coffee grounds.. dried out even more on the back-end, leaving charred darker malts with old barrel and black pepper. Medium-plus bodied and very grainy on the palate.. dry with oak and whiskey-inspired sourness that I noticed as I drank more.. the char factor and graininess got in the way as I drank more. I did like how the whiskey and stout both provided solid elements that played well together.

Pours black with some white head, there is much dot lace later. Aroma is crate woody, with some roast and whiskey. Taste is woody first, chocolate and whiskey secondary. Yeast and coffee and chocolate add some thickening. Good though overrated, I could get a bomber of a great RIS from the USA or Canada at the same price. Still, enjoyable. As with their other barrelled, its an old wood aftertaste; at the ready to remove splinters. Boutip trade seven.

Bottle (330ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow and tupalev, my bottle from UtoBeer, Borough Market, London. Clear deep brown-red, small bubbly beige head. Served at cellar temperature. Aroma - wow; hardwood smoke, peat, iodine, seasalt, background roast malt and mild herbal hops. Taste - double wow! (Jer, this would KILL you ...) - like chewing a charred log out of the fireplace - ash, peat, heavy smoke, light hops and malt, iodine and a salty linger - oh yeah, this is an Islay. Light body, incredibly astringent/acidic (duh - the cask?) - not much carbonation, but who cares - a long, smokey bitter salty finish. Not for the faint of palate, but if you love a good malt, this is a must. I must say, not all that "stout"-y. But I don’t care about that, either. Astonishing, but I’ll be happy to go a long time before having it again.

Bottle. Small to no head. Clear dark mahogany color with a flat look. Spare lacework. Heavy tar and part with also some whisky and alcohol that hits the nose. If you look past that, some smoke and roasted malt comes through. Some underlying coffee and chocolate over the palate. Full bodied with a soft carbonation with a dry texture. Moderated mix of sweet and bitter flavor. Bitter liquorish finish that lingers.