BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 001)

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

Bottle. Thanks Tom. Well, if you like whiskey, you’ll probably like this beer. Quite heavy on the whiskey notes. Hidden underneath the woody, whiskey flavours are some nice roasted malt notes and very small touches of bitter, dark chocolate. I thought it was pretty tasty, but perhaps a more subtle whiskey character may have made it better. Well, it was still extrememly tasty in my eyes and i’d quite happily drink this again. Well done.

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!

Blackish red or reddish black, no head. Big aroma of smoke, peat and earth. The Scotch pretty much dominates everything, which is good if you like Scotch. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Bottle. Black beer with a deep roasted and liquorice aroma. The flavour is deep, treacle and malty dry. Overall a reasonable strong beer.

Bottled. A dark amber beer with a disappearing tan head. The aroma is sweet with very strong notes of peat smoke - lovely!!! The flavor is sweet and very roasted combined with a strong smoke note - a lovely peaty smoke note that is.

Bottle, at London Shindig, August 2007. Very dark brown colour. Whether you like this will depend on whether you like Islay whisky. How you rate it will depend on whether you think a beer that doesn’t taste of beer should be highly scored. That said, the aroma wasn’t entirely overwhelmed by the whisky, with the smoky and tarry notes in the beer providing some contrast. But, on the palate, its Islay all the way. Reminded me of the LagaLimfjord at RBESG a couple of year ago. I liked this, even though I’m more of a fan of Lagavulin than Caol Ila. But plenty won’t. Not sure I could handle a pint though.

Bottle, 10%. Batch 006. Vinous plastic aroma, some liquorice after a little while. Black colour, seems a little muddy and quite oily. Very small brown head. The flavour is quite powerful. Starts off rather smoky, then the whisky notes appear along with some peat. Very late high bitterness and harshly roasted coffee. There is also some sweetness, mostly associated with liquorice notes. Quite low carbonation, but nice. The mouthfeel is thick, but not quite as oily as it looks. Complex and very nice. Unfortunately, the flavour gets some of the same plastic notes as aroma when it warms.

Near black colored, medium sized beige head. Strongly whisky aroma with smoke, licorice, vanilla and oak. Medium to full bodied. Flavor has also this strong whiskey-smoke tone, dries strongly with also this oaky-vanilla. Hops in aftertaste with lasting smoke. Maybe still too one-dimensional flavor.