BrewDog Paradox Speyside (Batch 010)

12oz bottle from Liquid Solutions. Pours a deep coffee brown with a small bubbly light beige head, not much lacing. Not as much peat on the nose of this one, more like bourbon. Also lots of wood tannin and chocolate. Flavor also holds lots of dry wood and cocoa, interesting. I’m glad this one is a little different than the other versions.

Pours dark brown, hint of ruby, wispy tan head with slight retention. Aromas of wood, resin, smoke, peat, cocoa, and burnt sugar. Brown sugar and resinous alcohol flavors predominate; long, burnt/bitter finish. Mouthfeel is creamy without being overpowering with some gentle carbonation. Spectacular, just like the rest of the Paradox series, though I think I still prefer the Paradox Grain.

Bottled, BB 1/1/2010. Poured thin medium brown with a dusting, a ring, and a pool of beige head. The aroma picked up candied toffee and whiskey sweetness first and foremost over an even sweeter caramel and chocolate base.. from what I recall (and I’m too lazy to look back at my ratings), this is significantly different from the other Paradoxes I’ve tried, which were all rather similar to me.. some heavy malt in there, but no real indicator of boozage. The flavor opened with syrupy dark malts including sweeter chocolate, molasses, and some soy.. caramel gave more support than flavor.. more vanilla than anything else from the barrel, but there was some soft, sweet whiskey on the back and some oak and warmth after the swallow.. very much candied and sweet overall. Medium-bodied with only a decent interplay between the slick fore and a tacky malt feel and residual bitterness on the finish.. overall the barrel treatment didn’t do a whole lot here, but it was a decent drinker.

Bottled at RBESG 2008. A dark brown beer with a red shine under a brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of hard roasted malt as well as lighter notes of sweet malt and soy sauce. The flavor is sweet wtih notes of malt, caramel, and hard roasted malt as well as lighter notes of whiskey and some burnt malt, leading to a dry woody finish.

330ml Bottle: Aroma of light caramel, slight molasses, slight peat, light vanilla, and a hint of wood. Poured very dark brown in color with no head to speak of. Clear. Not sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of malts, oak, slight caramel, light caramel, slight peat, and a hint of whiskey. Medium body. Lightly oily, slightly chalky texture. Soft to average carbonation. Malt, slight caramel, slight vanilla, slight peat, and oak finish. 10%ABV is barely noticeable.

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, Oddbins. Dark brown colour, brown lacing. Aroma of roasted malts, whisky and caramel. Flavour of roasted malts, dark fruits, whisky. Sweet, syrupy finish. Relatively light bodied. Lacks a good coffee malts and hop punch. Not too impressed.

Black color with a thin head. Light oak and sherry aroma. Taste is a weak grain, some roasted malt and a bit of astringency. Only a very little bit of oak and really no whisky notes at all. I would never guess this to be a barrel aged beer in a blind taste test, let alone a Scotch barrel aged beer.