BrewDog Paradox Islay (Batch 009)

Bottled. Almost black, small beige head. Salty, peaty whisky aroma. Dry and powerful with dense rounded mouthfeel. There’s tar and peat, lots of oak. I believe the Ardbeg whisky would be evident enough for me to identify it as Ardbeg, even if I didn’t know beforehand. Not balanced, but very good.

33 cL bottle, courtesy of chris o. Pours dark brown to black with a diminished tan head. Fruity and roasted malty aroma. Litght chalky aroma. Smoke and wooden flavour. Smooked and acidic flavoured into the finish. Lasting/lingering finish.

Cask (gravity) @ The National Winter Ales Festival 2008, Manchester, UK. Clear dark dark brown almost black color with a small, fizzy frothy, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, chocolate, smoke, wood, peat. Flavor is moderate to heavy smoked wood with a long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. (160108)

Bottled (thanks omhper!). Pitch black colour, mediumsized off-white/beige head. Aroma is peat, oak, tar and smoke. Flavour is dry wood, peat, very dry, mildly leathery notes as well as smoky. Quite mild Paradox Islay...

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

The Ardbbeg one, my favourite scotch so yes I’m biased. Dark brown and murky. Only a little head. Big iodine, peat, chocolate nose with smoke. Massive chocolate palate with iodine and big fat smoke. So Ardbeggy, but with chocolate. Rich and unbalanced, but what are you gonna do?

(33cl bottle, sampled side-by-side with Speyside 010, Macallan 011, and Glen Grant 003) Small beige head that mostly diminishes atop clear red-black body, nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, peat/scotch, vanilla, chocolate. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, some roast/coffee, Scotch/peat, light alcohol, soy. Smooth medium-full body with low carbonation and light syrup.

Bottle at Chris o’s Magic Night. Ruby black. Thin tan head. It’s still a bit TCP and too much on the Islay whisky motif for me.