BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 008)

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

@ Room temperature. Black, lacing espresso head. Nose is definite smokey whisky, HP sauce, sweet liquorice and burned, syrupy malts. Rich and intense flavor, smoke, wood chips (menthol and peat), liquorice and sweet malts. Full bodied, sticky palate. Great and balanced Imperial stout. Barrel ageing is definitely there, but not overwhelming.

Bottle, pours black with a moderate frothy tan head, that is mostly lasting. Nose of roasted malt and whisky. Full bodied. Flavor with oak, smoke and scotsch. Slightly alcoholic and woody finish. An enjoyable and balanced imp. stout.

The body was nearly black with some nice ruby at the edges. The light tan head just stuck to the edges of the glass. The aroma was obvious peat at the start with some smoke and toffee. The scotch was the main player the start, but I got more the anise and rich malt of the stout after that. The taste was rich buttery scotch with some toffee. There was also an herbal. Not in any way oxidized. A nice smooth, light body made this pretty drinkable, even with the scotch notes. nicely made.

Penetrable ebony. Grayish foam slowly disperses but maintains a fine collar. Phenolic, briny, tarry aromas are joined by hints of sawdust, peat smoke and chocolate fudge. Whisper of prunes and claylike oak. Soft, airy carbonation. Extremely dull, lifeless and oxidized from the get-go, with a fudge-saturated body that further deadens any lurking brightness. Raspy alcohol clashes with the graceless, slightly astringent roastiness. Oak is quite flabby and poorly defined, as are the esters which lie buried beneath the weighty residuals. Center is devoid of depth and comes across as entirely hollow and gritty with minerals, paper and a metallic twang. Delayed emergence of smokiness lends an ashen dryness while the tar notes bring some richness to the fore. Brininess accentuates the dryness as it lifts the sweetness from the palate which generates a black licorice effect. With the exception of some minor charred malt which echoes the smoke, oak and papery oxidation are all that remain in its wake. Finishes with medicinal touch, along with a flabby mix of charcoal, tangy peat and stale chocolate. Does have a somewhat pleasant and delicate nose, but all is downhill from there. I sincerely applaud BrewDog for such an ambitious undertaking, but this project is a huge disappointment. Not only are the beers oxidized, and dull as a result, they severely suffer from the excessively high levels of filtration, which has literally stripped the life and body from the beer. And force carbonate them on top of that??? No thanks.

brown/reddish body with no head.smells and tastes like paste,glue,and cardboard.

Black, no head. Aoma is muted caramel, and vanilla, light chocolate. Taste is extremely oxidized! Tastes like cardboard, light caramel, tobacco.

330 ml bottle brought over by my Aberdeen friend, Bjorn! Nose of cardboard and smoky peat, smelling much like the artificial BBQ smoke; clear dark brown with a small tan head; flavor of smoke, peat, and burnt wood. By far the worst of the three versions but 009 wasn’t far behind. 005 was the only one I really liked!

MUCH more integrated than the Ardbeg (009) version; smoother, smokier for sure, and with a more refined sweetness. The aroma is all smoke and seaside brine, with just a hint of bitter chocolate. The flavor is a touch sweet, with a good smoky scotch presence; tingly, with really well-veiled alcohol. A slight burnt butterscotch flavor; a sooty balsa wood dryness. Yum. Way better than 009! {Alcohol may get too hot with full warming...I’ll have to watch for that...}