BrewDog Paradox Macallan (Batch 011)

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

Bottle. Pours black with an average, frothy, light brown head, somewhat lasting with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt -molasses, chocolate, toasted grain-, average hops -perfume-, heavy yeast -horse blanket, leather- with notes of prunes, wood, and tar. Full bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness and bitterness, light acidity.

12oz via trade with 1brew2or3. Poured into a snifter. Pours black with a tan head. Nose is sweet malty and rich with a nice kick of chocolate. Taste is sweet chocolatey and malty. Some sweet sherry does come through. Pretty nice paradox from brewdog.

Bottle, black pour. Great aroma here. Thick with chocolate, molasses, scotch, sherry. Flavor is rich and sweet. Vanilla, chocolate, scotch and toasted wood. One of my favorite brewdogs to date.

The palate is a hair thinner than the Speyside. There is more oak in th flaovr and aroma, with lightly sweet fruit and yeast. Almost no scotch, and I don’t think Macallan spends much time in the sherry cask anyway.

Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Pours with a small, off-white heead and a black body. Aroma is some smooth wood, chocolate, scotch, and some nuts. Taste is scotch, lightly woody, some chocolate and almonds. Creamy mouthfeel, light carbonation.

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.

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.

At Vero. Rich, viscious-looking, gorgeous coppery brown color like teak. Subdued smokey nose with rich malt, sherry barrel is apparent, also cherry notes. Great smoke in here with lingering roasted malt at the end. Scrumptious.