BrewDog Paradox Speyside (Batch 010)

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

Transparent dark mahogany with notes of charcoal and spotty-lacing light tan head. Aroma of dry, toasty caramel and earthy peaty character. Body starts with decent fullness and semi sweet dark maltiness with a smooth, dry, earthy Scotch balance toward a slightly warming finish. Pretty good brew, but not my favorite of the Paradox series.

RBESG08 grand tasting.
Just a tiny sample. The body was of a quite dark brown, not much head. A smokey malty nose. Very good all round smoke that enters the taste as well, that’s sweet and malty again, notes of smoked ham. Tasty.

(Bottle 33 cl) Pours a clear orangey brown with a creamy, beige head. Sweetish and burned malt aroma with distinct alcohol. Quite full-bodied with lots of burned malt and light notes of wood. Burned malt bitterness with quite some alcohol present. 290608

Bottle shared by someone at Spuyten... hell, it may have even been me. Big whiskey aroma, sweet and plummy, some salt. Sweet body, but a bit ashy from the barrel. Medium bodied and gentle, chalky with mild seaweed. Enjoyable and subtle but doesn’t have the complexity or delicacy of the best Paradox offerings.

Pours a nice deep sable with a decent but not too persistent tan head. Aroma is strong, oily and smoky, with undertones of molasses and unsweetened chocolate. Flavor is like burnt unsweet chocolate with a hint of coffee and a trace of molasses, subtly sweet and fairly but not nastily bitter. Texture is smooth, not as thick or heavy as most stouts I have tried, and has a strong alcohol bite, perhaps from the whisky barrel in which it was aged.

Bottle. Pours a mostly black body with a thin lacing. Molasses, caramel and chocolate malt. Woody whiskey notes and a light roast y malt body. Sweet with a slick warming and some light smoke notes. A bit cloying but that’s fine amidst the warming. Nice.

Bottle at home ... Deep black ... slightlt sweet roast malts ... sweet fruity ... little toasted oats ... Although description (as i write) says whiskey cask i think this is as sherry cask, and if not getting the level of whiskey that i get from some of the others... In many ways this seems more balanced.

(Bottle) Pours black. The aroma is fat malty with a medium roasted character of dark bread, coffee and dark chocolate alongside some mild woody and whisky-like notes. The flavour is medium to heavily roasted with notes of coffee, dark bread and dark chocolate. Whisky and wood is also present. The mouthfeel is fat and soft with a light oily touch. Medium bitter with a medium body.