BrewDog Paradox Isle of Arran
13 Apr
Name – BrewDog Paradox Isle of Arran
Country – Scotland
Type – American Imperial Stout
Appearance – Poured an ink black color with no head at all.
Smell – Some smokiness in the nose along with vanilla and some roasted malts. You get a whiff of the booze.
Taste – Quite peaty and smokey. Nice vanilla flavor from the barrel along with some chocolate and roasted malts as well. As it warms up you get the alcohol burn for sure.
I was a little concerned with this one as bourbon barrels are not my thing quite yet but this is a bourbon barrel that is then used to age Scotch Whiskey in. The result is very smooth with not much feeling of bourbon at all. The smokey peat flavor is very nice in this and a welcomed change of pace from other barrel aged stouts I’ve had. Absolutely lovely beer. Vine and Barley in Pt. St. Lucie has this on draft right now. So if you take the trip there definitely get a glass before it’s gone.
Overall Grade – A-
That name is pretty exotic sounding. I’m with you on the bourbon too, but I guess the intermediate scotch sucked some of that out. Sounds great. Someday! Glad you’re doing road trips to find what’s great and what’s not.
Yeah I definitely think the Scotch balanced out the flavor to not have that strong bourbon burn to it.
Funny Mike, I too am not a huge fan of bourbon barrel aged beer, as I said in my last review. I have felt like i’m breaking some secret beer geek code in admitting that. I don’t feel too bad though…hopfen treader told me that Sam Caligione doesn’t like the variety either.
I’m definitely glad I’m not the only one that isn’t crazy about bourbon aged beers. I agree Nate that a lot of people seem to just go gaga over them. There have been some that I think are decent but some are a bit much.