BrewDog Paradox Speyside (Batch 010)

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

Black. Long creamy head. Aroma: Roasted malt, light chocolate. Flavor: Licorice, roasted malt, scotch. Warm alcohol finish.

Viscous-pouring dark brown beer with orange highlights to medium, dense & reasonably stable tan head. Chocolate very obvious in the nose, breadcrust, fresh coffeepowder, vanilla, but remarkably little alcohol. Strong coffee taste, quite bitter (both hops and burnt black coffeebeans) with expresso/mocha sweetness lurking behind. Very burnt/stout character. Rather spritzy MF, strange for such a heavy, oily, viscous beer with some alcoholwarming. Much more stout/coffee-like than any of the other Paradox casks; alcohol/whisky character however much more discreet. <i> Big thanks to Darren! </i>

Bottle, Criterion, Leicester. Very dark brown with an off white head. Roasty malt aroma with some woodiness. Goes down smooth. Luckilly the whisky flavours are realatively understated and the alcohol is quite well masked so as not to blight this. Not a huge amount in the finish. Not bad, but not nearly as good as ’they’ probably think it is and hard to really see why this is so pricey.

Bottle from a London Oddbin. Tar-like darkenss, thin film of a head. Whisky, tar and molasses in the aroma. Some beers could be rated just by looking and sniffing. Strong whisky charater cutting through, playing with the velvety stout, ending up in a warming finish. Some oak and vanilla lingering. Close to perfect.

12 oz bottle. Opaque brown pour with an oily tan head. Coffee, bittersweet/belgian cocoa, whiskey, oak, hops and overripe dark fruit (esp. plum/prune) in the nose. Boozy. Lots of coffee and whiskey flavor, oak, vanilla, sweet stickiness. Soy. Under carbonated, but probably to be expected. Silky, almost greasy, mouthfeel. Seems to work better than the Islay version that I’ve had, fairly well balanced with an appropriate amount of whiskey and oak. Overall, a terrible value, these beers are over priced to the max (more than $1.00/oz at Whole Foods, yes, I am a sucker).

Bottle (330ml). Courtesy of MES of MES_AND_SIM - thank you so much, P!. Clear, but so deep it’s nearly opaque dark ruby pour, smallish frothy tan head. Not too much whiskey character in the aroma, more like a very deep roast brown ale, with a bit more herbal bitterness than normal. But the taste, ah ... there’s the Speyside - initially only light iodine, oak and whiskey sweetness, but the roast caramel is soon rather dominated by subtle resiny Islay complexity - lovely, just gets better as it warms. Slick mouthfeel, decent carbonation, long herbal/oaky bitter finish - terrific brew - again, thanks, Mes!

Bottle... Post RBSG ’08 O-Town/Vero Beach Throwdown Chapter 8... Clear, very dark ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. The malty, acrid nose extends heaps of cocoa, coffee and peat smoke. Full-bodied with a lightly oily mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Acrid, bitter, burnt coffee grounds and ethanol in the robust flavor. Finishes boozy and scorched. Thanks go out to growler for sharing this brew!

Tasting - Perfect Pour. Black, tan creamy head. Roasted coffee and cocoa aromas ride waves of whiskey soaked raisins and and wood. Dark coffee and oaken whiskey flavors round to a soft dark fruit bitterness. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. Much better than the Mcallan in my opinion. Could be perfect choice for a nice cigar pairing...