BrewDog Paradox Springbank (Batch 017)

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

Serve in Snifter

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20100328 cask at Max’s. Aroma is boozy, peaty, with light wood char, prune. Body is creamy and coating like whipped cream. Flavors are more rock char, slight cellar must, woody sweetness, but not sugary sweet. Lingering heat but otherwise clean, earthy, dry. Retronasal whisky. Fun stuff.

In short: A well-rounded whiskey barrel aged stout with a bit of everything you can expect from the style. A bit too harsh but nice.
How: Bottle 330ml. Not too sure about the age, maybe 2 year after bottling… approximately
The look: near black body topped by a very small beige head
In long: Nose has plenty of vanilla, some chocolate cake and a surprisingly not-so-overwhelming whiskey barrel presence. Taste is round, vanilla extract, raisins, chocolate chips cookies, some whiskey barrels, burnt almonds, some booze, black liquorice, old cup of black coffee. Relatively light and juicy body for a 10% beer. Smooth carbonation like just about all other BrewDog Paradox. The finish was a bit harsh whit some booze and a wood barrel saliva sucking astringency. At least this one was not just a boozy whiskey barrel orgy. Another BrewDog Paradox to add to my rating collection. I like to open a beer and rate it whenever I can, and every night I’m told that this is a waste of time and I drink too much… wife’s a bitch and then you die.

Pours pitch black with very small tan head. Smells like chocolate, hints of licorice, a touch of coffee, and an even fainter hint of smoke. Tastes sweet, roasted, chocolate and coffee, and hints of smoke. Full-bodied with a smooth texture and soft mouth-carbonation, BrewDog Paradox Springbank finishes with a mild touch of bitterness.

Aroma- nice sweet whiskey aromas, typical stout qualities, some funk Appearance- not as dark as most impy’s, big white bubbles Taste- dark fruits, soft whiskey, slight chocolate, some bitterness, smooth, sweet finish Palate- borderline full-bodied, extremely drinkable Overall- Very drinkable and incredibly smooth, but not worth the price tag. Not overwhelming in any category and almost too sessionable for a cask-aged brew.

Bottle shared with Dasilky1. Hints of whiskey and chocolate in the nose. No hops present. Pours a dark brown, almost black. Tan head. A tad too sweet in my opinion. Average imperial stout. Overpriced.

Bottle shared by blackipa. Somewhat transparent brown...thin whispy suds atop. Earthy tobacco nose with some peppery spice, some soil, and lots of peaty whiskey overtones...actually quite nice nose, certainly for a scotch person, which I’m not...buit I like it anyway, fuck off. Complexity is kind of lost in the flavors, likely due to the underattentuation of the malts...pretty sweet flavors making the earthy, tobacco notes seem a bit candyish..wish it was drier to bring out the complexity of the peaty whiskey characteristics...what ya gonna do? That being said...there’s nice peaty, smokey earthy tones there, the sweetness just makes them a lot less awesomer than had it been a lot less sweet.

330ml bottle gifted from distributor rep. Tulip glass. Pours dark brown in color, looking fairly thin. Sits with a nice dark caramel head which does fade away. Very dark brown/black in glass. Aroma: Brown sugar, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, grain alcohol (of course), whisky very apparent, molasses, dates, honey. Very sweet aromas mixed with a strong whisky presence. Taste: Woah. I literally said out loud as soon as the first sip. Great thing I love whisky...and scotch especially. Very sweet malts right off the bat, black coffee, vanilla, molasses, Springbank taste is most def all over the place, hefty chocolate notes on finish, roasted nuts (hazelnuts?). Hardly any carbonation. Palate: Very smooth, creamy, thin feel, finishes really well, that slight pleasant whisky burn also there. An amazing strong stout and an instant favorite. Not for the weak. Taste and smell will hit you like Chuck Norris (or Sean Connery?) on a sunny day...if you’re not prepared. Would buy if I find it somewhere. Side note: The flavors develop more depth the longer you drink it. I drank it at room temperature, just as the bottle says. I highly suggest you do the same. (Rating No. 28)

Rating No. 1.300. A very strong smell of malt, smoke, some liquorice, also some coffee and bitter chocolate. The small beige head disappears fast, the body is black. A strong malty taste, quite bitter with chocolate and coffee as well. The body is very strong, very oily and creamy, also some syrup.

Black, with a to small head. Liquoirish, alcohol, burned/roasted malts, a bit sweetness and caramel. Sweet, that goes to a ok bitterness, but not totally outbalanced. Could use some kind of boost, except at the alcohol... That kicks in pretty hard to only be 10%. Liqour is there for sure, carbonation is harder to find.

2011 - 05 - 28 330ml bottle.darkbrown, almost black colour. medium creme fading head. sharp dark smokey taste. alcohol present.

Black with a light tan head that doesn’t last long. Aroma of deep woody notes, maybe some mesquite?, a lot of smoke, light whiskey tones, mild chocolate stoutiness. Big dark chocolate tones hit the tongue first, melding into a very mild woody and whiskey-ish flavor. Ends creamy and semi-sweet, the way cold milk does. Roasted malt lingers in the background. Bittersweet. It has some typical impy stout complexity to it, dark malt grains.. Later: smooth chocolate roastiness, ending in quiet whiskey tones. Dry fruity esters on the taste become apparent later (lightly)