BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 009)

Bottle. Pitch black with a nice cappuccino coloured head. Aromas of thick islay peat, tar, roasted malt and sweet caramel. Malty flavour with notes of chocolate, ash and smoke.

Black with a lasting off-white head. Aroma of caramel, tar and peat. Ashy and smoke flavour with overwhelming peat.

22oz bottle @ Scheffel. Pours pitch black with a small creamy bubbly head. Nose is roast - chocolate, coffee and peat smoke in the back. Rubber and smoke. Smooth body. OK

Bottle. Neck tag shows "Edition 009 Islay Ardbeg 1991". Pours pitch black. Short brown head. Aroma is big peat, smoldering wood, earth, roasted malt, iodine, cocoa, and salt. Taste is strong peat, burnt wood, dark chocolate, coffee, iodine, molasses, and scotch notes. The scotch is very evident in everything thus far. Body is soft but chewy. There’s a certain slickness to the palate but still is kind of creamy. Light-medium overall. You’d think the barrel aging wouldn’t thin these out much but it has on all three that I’ve had. The finish is more peat, iodine, salt, burnt wood, molasses, chocolate, roasted malt and coffee. Very tasty, especially if you like Islay scotch and imperial stouts, which I do.

Dark brown with a smoky aroma of roast, chocolate, vanilla, and wood. Flavor is roasty with some wood, roast, chocolate, and light bitterness. I wasn’t crazy about this one at first, but it really shaped up nicely as it warmed.

Bottled. Poured clear, deep brown with a swirly, short-lived cap of tan head. The aroma was smoooookey with oak and peat over darker chocolates and caramel.. the second wind brings sweet whiskey and vanilla.. this really came together well. The flavor opened with sour oak and peaty whiskey with caramel, dark chocolate, and a little coffee coming in behind.. more oak, vanilla, and smoke on the back, becoming a bit too bitter right at the end. Medium-ish bodied with lower carbonation on the palate.. a lot of the barrel character (sourness, sweetness, and flavors) worked great, but the bitterness at the end wasn’t a good closer. All in all a tasty brew.

Name: Paradox 009 Islay
Date: April 03, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip
Appearance: black, wispy tan head, bits of drippy lace
Aroma: sweet dark caramel aroma, lots of scotch with peppery alcohol, roasted malt, dark chocolate
Flavor: sweet scotch flavor, lots of the woody scotch enhanved by the sweet caramel and vanilla, roasted brings it in balance, oaky character adds to the bitterness, rich chocolate shows upon warming, scotch finish
Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+/4

Poured black as night with no head.Lots of smokiness on the nose as well as the taste.It was close to like someone extracted the smoke from meat and bottled it in this brew.I really like this brew.