BrewDog Paradox Macallan (Batch 011)

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

bottle. black pour with thin head. mellow chocolate, toffee aroma. mellow and smooth. sherry is light and nice. the stout keeps its character. well balanced. chocolate and roassted malts. well done.

Pours deep clear garnet with infra red edges and tan head. The aroma is milder than what I was expecting with muted peat, some earthiness and faint roasted malts followed by even fainter burnt malts. The taste is full and indeed tasty with notes of peat and earthiness followed by some sweeter notes that are hinting toward the base beer. I get an undercurrent of roasted malts, some chocolate malts and smooth sweetness. Midway and to the finish some of the roasty rich malt notes and some chocolate struggle a little harder to be heard over the barrel flavors. It ends with lingering peat and mild earthy notes.

pours a deep black with a little off-white head. aroma is strong, of roasted malts, bitter coffee and vanilla. flavor is of rich dark chocolate, oaked cherried and a kick of spice. leaves a strong alcohol feeling in the throat. over all, quite a beer.

Aroma is grainy, oaky, roastiness, alcohol, tart sourness, which I would attribute to the sherry, rich oxidation and hops, and finally, chocolate. Aroma is very rich and dense. Pours with a thin wateriness with no head excepting a few white bubbles. Taste is initially barleywine-esque, which is not surprising considering the sherry. Oak, sherry, touches of roasted grain, chocolate, citrus hops. This brew is well integrated, if a touch too much direct sherry and carbonation. The sherry is somewhat sharper than I’d like, and the oak is present but not dominant. This is a very nice beer.

Bottle... Post RBSG ’08 O-Town/Vero Beach Throwdown Chapter 8... Clear, very dark ale with a small, off-white head. Very restrained nose offers subtle notes of chocolate, Scotch and brandy with even lesser wafts of tobacco, leather and wood. Full-bodied and velvety with limp carbonation. Chocolaty and boozy. Nice bitterness. Finishes hot and deeply roasted. Thanks go out to growler for sharing this bottle!

Tasting - Perfect Pour. Dark brownish black, creamy tan head. Sweet vanilla cocoa and coffee aromas warm to light notes of wood. Intense coffee vanilla flavors balance on swirls of cherry and oak. Sneaks of scotch play out at room temp. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, sweet finish. Nice, but a touch too sweet for me...

12-oz. Thanks, Skoi! Pours fairly clear but very dark amber. Dense thin tan head. Very light legs. Nice sweet red wine grape nose, combined with a bit of sweet roasty impy. Lots of dense creamy chocolate and roast show up on the mid-palate (echoing their supporting role on the nose). Tough to pick apart; almost closed off in terms of the flavor, but very balanced and harmonious. Nice and drinkable but the intense cohesion of the flavors makes it seem somehow less complex than what I often look for in a beer like this--still, it’s far from average fare.

Bottle from Liquor Max in Loveland - thanks for the recommendation Nick! Dark brown pour with a 1/2 finger head that mostly subsides. Smokey caramel and sherry notes in the nose. Nicely balanced in the taste. Light roast, caramel, dried fruits in the malt complemented nicely by the sherry barrel. Coffee and alcohol hit toward the end, finishes with a lingering sherry/wood flavor. The wood and coffee notes leave this lightly astringent. Minor complaint - overall I think this is very well done. Mouthfeel is relatively light but the flavors are not lacking and this drinks well. Recommended. Stylistically, this does not really fall into the imperial stout category, for reference. My first of the BrewDog series - I’ll be looking forward to trying some more.