Tasting Notes: Vault City:Neon Raptor: DDF M*rs Bar Monumental Imperial Stout

Vault City:Neon Raptor: DDF M*rs Bar Monumental Imperial Stout (Scotland: Imperial Stout: 15.5% ABV)

Visual: Black, fizzy initially then still. Thin brown dash of a head.

Nose: Nutty. Tempura batter. Butter. Crushed peanuts. Milk.

Body: Thick and viscous. Chocolate liqueur. Peanuts. Strawberry crème. Buttery. Vanilla cream.

Finish: Oily sheen. Chocolate liqueur. Peanut butter. Buttery. Whipped cream. White sugar. Nougat.

Conclusion: Ok, first up, we have to examine how exactly does this emulate a double deep fried Mars bar? I am asking the big questions here. Don’t lie, we all know that is the part you were wondering about as well.

It mostly seems to work by making it more buttery in feel and flavour, or so it seems to me. This has big buttery energy that feels like it comes through more as lighter tempura batter than the thick batter you would expect, but, you know, close enough, right?

Its also milky, but more importantly very sugary sweet – which isn’t in any batter that I know and yet seems to hang around in the more batter and milk side rather than the more Mars bars side, tying it very close together which is a tad odd so thought best to mention it.

So, apart from that, you have heavy chocolate liqueur notes and lots of nutty character, peanuts especially – slightly oily with a very viscous character that makes it almost sickly sweet – so, yeah Mars bar, but even sweeter if you can imagine that.

So, that is kind of it – it has big flavours but not big range. It does very well in emulate its inspiration in being a terrible idea, and yet one I am glad to have tried, and will never try again. The only unusual element that does not match the theme is a slight strawberry crème mid body, unexpected, not a huge element buts pops out of the sweetness now and again.

The odd mix of buttery notes over the very sweet chocolate and nutty notes make for a cloying mouthfeel and flavour, probably works best as half the can, as after that the thick buttery flavours get sweeter and overpower everything else.

Does exactly what the can describes, for better or worse.

Background: Ok, I admit, I bought this as it is trying to replicate the Scottish “delicacy” of double deep fried Mars bars as an Imperial Stout. That sounds such a terrible idea I just had to try it, despite the fact this was quite the expensive one. The description is quite the item, so to quote directly

“We wanted to create a true representation of Scotland, away from the tired cliches and usual tropes you might see on TV. A bold and unique idea was needed to showcase Scottish culture in all its glory…

Then we thought, screw that, let’s brew a double deep-fried m*rs bar imperial stout and make it 15.5%.

Deep fried m*rs bars are as synonymous with our country as haggis or Iron Brew, and we wanted to bring this dessert to life in a beer. With Neon Raptor’s help we packed it to the brim with chocolate malt, cacao nibs and an authentic deep-fried taste from adding battered m*rs bars right into the mash tun.”

I mean that is an utterly terrible idea, no? So yes here I am drinking it. Another one from Independent Spirit, drunk while listening to the Celeste OST for some chilled tunes to help mellow out the high abv beer.

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Tasting Notes: Fallen Acorn: Emperor: Brandy BA Simple Tricks and Nonsense

Fallen Acorn: Emperor: Brandy BA Simple Tricks and Nonsense (England: Imperial Stout: 15.4% ABV)

Visual: Black. Utterly still. No head.

Nose: Brandy soaked sponge. Sherry cream. Sherry soaked raisins. Fig rolls. Caramel and milky chocolate, also biscuity which together gives a Twix Bar image. Mild licorice. Nougat.

Body: Very smooth, into a cake sponge feel. Nougat. Brandy soaked raisins and brandy sponge. Chocolate cake sponge. Chocolate liqueur. Liqueur filled chocolate sweets. Trifle sponge. Chocolate flapjacks. Cognac touch.

Finish: Rum sponge. Chocolate cake sponge. Liqueur filled chocolate sweets. Chocolate flapjacks. Golden syrup touch.

Conclusion: Ohhh, it has been a long time since I have had an imperial stout like this. This is very big, but oh so very smooth. Like, a 15% and up abv beer should not have this smooth a texture. Early on it just slides down your throat. It is not that it is thin, but it is nothing like what you would expect. An utterly still beer on pour and utterly slick on swallow. It does quickly move on from that to a chocolate sponge fluffy feel and flavour, but that fluffy character is still lighter than you would expect from the abv. It feels very influenced by the super smooth take that was common in the USA in roughly the middle 2K era.

I haven’t had the unaged beer, but I’m guessing is was probably pretty smooth and not too carbonated to begin with, but if so, the ageing has really emphasised both point until this feels like a smooth chocolate liqueur, sans some of the alcohol fire. (Again, impressive considering the absurd abv this has).

On top of that this is laden with the barrel aged flavour – not that I would haver recognised the barrel correctly and guessed brandy sight unseen. Yes, this has tons of brandy soaked cake sponge flavours, and a kind of raisins element, but there are so many odd spirit flavours that seem to come out of the beer and barrel interaction that I would have been hard pressed to guess a specific one. It tastes like shoving a mouthful of varied liqueur filled chocolates in your gob at once and washing it down with an imperial stout.

It results in a beer that I respect for brewing quality and enjoy for bursting spirit flavour, it is very good, but I will admit I prefer my imperial stouts a bit more chewy in feel. I mean, this is recognisably strong despite its slickness and smoothness – mainly from those spirity flavours and , while smooth, still a noticeable alcohol character. I still would have preferred a touch bigger thickness in mouthfeel. Oddly this actually ties into the one big flaw of the beer, don’t let it warm to room temperature. Normally I quite like letting my stouts warm, but this becomes very boozy and noticeably alcohol touched when at room temperature. It doesn’t gain the thicker mouthfeel I wanted, just become very more obvious in its alcohol feel which does not benefit the beer. Still, slightly chilled this is lovely.

Still, despite those quibbles, overall this is very well done. It is a huge wave of spirity flavour and very well made base imperial stout. However, at 25 quid odd a pop I have to be critical about it for the little flaws as for that money you should demand excellence. It is very good indeed, but not 25 quid a go good.

Background: Emperor brewing have a massive reputation for making imperial stouts. I have encountered them in on collaboration before and found it pretty darn nice. So, a short while back I was discussing them at a Mill’s beer tasting at indie spirit, and one of the other people there mentioned that Fallen Acorn had done a collaboration with them and, shockingly, was still in stock on their store. You had to buy them in a set of three different barrel ageing, so it was a tad expensive, but I bit the bullet and grabbed them. Many thanks to the guy who mentioned it to me, if you ever read this! Since then looks like they sell them individually now, but ah well, no complaints. This is meant to emulate German chocolate cake in style, and was made with lactose and aged in Brandy barrels. Due to being a large bottle and huuuge abv I saved some of this for another day, stopping up the bottle. I am not as young as I once was. Music wise i went with Bloodywood – Rakshak. Yep they finally have their first album out and it is amazing!

Tasting Notes: Connecticut Valley: Nothing By Chance

Connecticut Valley: Nothing By Chance (USA: Fruit: 15% ABV)

Visual: Hazy reddish brown. Hind of hazy apple juice like colour. Thin off white head.

Nose: Honey. Glazed apple Danish. Liquorice touch. Boozy. Cut apples. Brown sugar.

Body: Apple pie filling. Honey. Golden syrup. Brown sugar. Boozy. Slight dry oak. Blended whisky. Vanilla.

Finish: Warming treacle air. Liquorice. Brown bread. Apple pies.

Conclusion: Ok, apple beers, be it straight apple, apple pie dessert stouts, or just ditched into other beers, have always appealed to me as an idea, but they have not had the greatest history of actually, well, working.

So, how does this one do?

Pretty well. I mean, it is boozy as fuck, but at 15% abv I kind of expected that already. It makes the entire beer unsubtle as hell, but here, I kind of dig that.

There is a very apple pie to sugar glazed apple Danish kind of style to this, but with a bit of dry oak touch and sweet vanilla from the barrel ageing that adds high and low notes to the whole experience.

The high booze and sweetness gives occasional real thick and sugary golden syrup, but more generally a more manageable honey hazy hovers over the whole thing. Thankfully the dryer oak notes work very well as occasional release, and match with the savoury liquorice notes which offer a haven in which you can prepare yourself before the next sweet burst. Often I find liquorice notes don’t work in a beer, but here they feel very necessary as a grounding element and are pleasing in themselves.

Overall it is simple, boozy and sweet – with the barrel ageing feeling like it is responsible for 90% of any of the complexity you actually get, but ya know what?

It does apple well. That is rare. It still manages to feel beer like under that and shows heavily but is not dominated by the barrel ageing. That is a nice wee set to hit.

Rough and simple, but despite that I really dig it.

Background: Saw that Bottles and Books over in Bristol had some very tasty beers in, lot of Imperial Stouts especially, so I treated myself and put an order in from them. Very helpful staff there as well, helping me sort a mistake I did with the order. Anyway this, not an Imperial Stout, is one of the beers I ordered from them. What it is is a very high abv apple ale that has been aged in bourbon casks. Now, my experience with apple beers has been mixed to say the least, but I am eternally hopeful that one of them will wow me, and this was different enough that I thought it may be the one to do so. Had recently stayed up to watch the Undertale Fifth House Ensemble concert livestream on twitch, so listened to the Undertale Live music while drinking. Yes I am a big Undertale nerd. I love it.

Tasting Notes: Hackney: Evil Twin New York: Nightowls

Hackney: Evil Twin New York: Nightowls (England: Imperial Stout: 14% abv)

Visual: Black. Still. Large creamy, caramel brown head.

Nose: Creamy coffee. Fudge. Cashews and hazelnuts. Praline. Dry roasted peanuts.

Body: Very creamy and thick. Creamy coffee. Toffee. Vanilla yogurt. Mocha coffee. Hazelnut coffee.

Finish: Milky chocolate to chocolate milkshake. Creamy coffee. Chocolate mini rolls. Some alcohol feel in the air. Bitter cocoa.

Conclusion: This is 14% abv. Wait, what? Really? Ok, I should have guessed. It is super thick and that needs a good sized malt load, and accompanying abv, to manage. Beyond that, if you are looking for it, there is a distinct warming alcohol air to the finish. But generally it feels neither boozy nor burning.

The other hint was that my handwritten notes look like shit because I am drunk. That should have been a clue. I am such a lightweight.

The definition of the coffee flavour in this is exceptional. It is well rounded, showing of a huge range of subtle notes that can often be lost in a heavy beer and without going the uber bitter route of some coffee stouts. It is up there with Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Weasel for the sheer clarity of the coffee notes. Beyond that the creamy coffee that is its mainstay it flirts with a more mocha influenced take and hazelnut coffee take as it mixes with the stout flavours. Now, in general it does lean towards the sweeter take on coffee, but I will admit I prefer that look in my beer over the very straight bitter coffee take.

The sweetness does have a counterbalance – oddly enough the main balance is a well developed chocolate set of notes. While some are sweet and milkshake style, there is a bitter cocoa dust underlying it that mixes with the more bitter end of the coffee notes to ground the huge, thick, sweet imperial stout.

Outside of the wonderfully expressed coffee I will admit it not the most wide ranging stout for flavours, but its wonderful use of the coffee more than makes up for that in my opinion.

A single minded base, with a few concessions, but huge and epic flavour. I utterly love it.

A genuine contender for Beer Geeks Brunch Weasels crown and a must get if you like coffee.

Background: Ok, I mainly grabbed this as it is a collaboration with Evil Twin, who are awesome. Even if it is the New York branch which did the disappointing GOAT beer. Anyway, this is a huge 14% abv imperial stout made with coffee. Ok, so coffee imperial stouts are far from an unusual thing these days, but I still had high hopes for it. Went with a bit of metal for background music – Shadow’s Fall : The War Within. Big music for a big beer. This was another one grabbed from Independent Spirit.

Tasting Notes: Jackdaw: Zwarte Draak

Jackdaw: Zwarte Draak (Sweden: Belgian Strong Ale: 14% ABV)

Visual: Very dark brown to black. Thin to moderate sized brown head. Still main body.

Nose: Smoked ham. Smoked blue cheese. Thick. Raisins underneath. Some chocolate character. Faint prunes.

Body: Thick. Brown sugar. Boozy weight. Bacon smoke. Slight alcohol prickle. Creamy chocolate. Black cherry. Brown bread. Charring. Liquorice. Slight toffee.

Finish: Alcohol air. Bitter chocolate. Bready. Charred. Smoke.

Conclusion: Fucking hell this is big. Then again, it is 14% abv so I shouldn’t be surprised. The strange thing is that generally, with one big exception, it doesn’t really show it much beyond a general “boozy” heaviness. We will get that that one exception in a mo.

Before that – this is fairly heavily smoked. I like that, and it being something different and pretty rare (at least in my experience) – a mix of heavy Belgian quad flavours with smoked styling. The smoke is wonderfull – smoked meat, tons of smoked blue cheese notes in the aroma – though disappointingly this second element doesn’t follow through into the body. Still, the body is brilliant as well even without that element. There is brown sugar sweetness as the main push against the meat and smoke, then as that fades away it has underlying chocolate, black-cherry and other dark fruit hints at the base. Above all it is just so chewy that you really feel like you can get your teeth into it to explore it.

So, anyway, back to that one thing. Erm, the finish is a bit rough. It has some of the notes before, but in general the finish has a simple alcohol air that kinds of hangs around. With a better developed and more refined finish this beer would be easily a classic and one of my favourites. The rest of the beer is an amazing liquid bread, smoked meat and chocolate sandwich that everyone should try.

Buuut, yeah the finish is sub par. Still definitely a beer worth getting. I don’t think I have seen a match of Belgian style to smoke done so well, or with this intensity before. Yeah, there are a few flaws at the end but it is still great.

Try it if you can, especially if you like hefty beers.

Background : A few things here, first, from a bit of googling it seems there are versions of this at 12.5% out there. Guess they must have brewed it up a bit in recent batches. Second, when I grabbed this I thought it was from a Brewery in Belgium I hadn’t run into before. It isn’t, it is from Sweden. Fair enough. Another one grabbed from Independent Spirit. Anyway, a big Belgian style beer was what I wanted at the time, and I drank without doing notes. I was so surprised at its smoked character that I grabbed another bottle to do notes on. This, is that bottle. Put on Louise Distras – Dreams From The Factory Floor while drinking – nice acoustic meets punk ethos meets protest song kind of mix. Looking forwards to whenever her new album finally comes out.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Abstrakt: AB 25

Brewdog: Abstrakt: AB 25 (Scotland: Barley Wine: 13.3% ABV)

Visual: Very dark black-cherry red. Thin brown dash of a head.

Nose: Treacle. Fudge. Vanilla. Toasted marshmallow. Liquorice all-sorts.

Body: Treacle. Liquorice. Vanilla. Toffee. Buttery notes. Charred meat ends to charcoal. Chalk touch. Black cherry. Brown sugar.

Finish:Liquorice all-sorts. Butter. Charred notes.

Conclusion: This is … very buttery, very buttery indeed. That is not such a good thing. There is a good base beer apart from that; Solid treacle notes, very smooth body that hides the alcohol and good toffee and vanilla from the bourbon barrel ageing. I mean I even enjoy the liquorice that they manage to use in moderation and have slight liquorice all sorts sweeter notes.

But…. yeah, as you go on that real thick buttery character just grows and grows. Now I don’t know if it from a brewing fault in the base beer, from the barrel ageing, a combination of both or what, but something just doesn’t click here. Generally butter notes are considered off notes in beer, but I have defended them from time to time where they seem to accentuate the high points of the beer they are in, but that doesn’t apply here – they are distinctly off notes.

Now, to look on the bright aside of the beer – it is very good at concealing its high alcohol – I’ve seen beers of roughly half the strength seem far rougher, and the smoothness doesn’t stop it playing with big flavours either, dodging another common flaw in aged beers where the smoothness comes with an associated lightness. This all grinds to a screeching halt sooner or later though as the buttery notes come out again. Now, maybe this is another beer where a bit of ageing may sort it out, but since they are selling it now, I expect it to be good now.

The buttery character is a greenery pocked, thick and fatty thing – so, I guess high quality for butter? But that doesn’t make it a better experience – it keeps hiding the better notes underneath it. Late on black cherry and similar dark fruit notes come out from under that shell, and it would have been nice to see more of them.

At a cheaper price this would be flawed but with a quality of the base against it that makes it worth investigating, At ten quid a pop this cannot be a worthwhile purchase I’m sorry to say. A potentially good beer stomped by its worse elements. So there we go.

Background: Another of Brewdog’s one off speciality beers – this one a Barley Wine that has spent 6 months on a bourbon barrel. That actually doesn’t sound that unusual. Ah well, they can’t all be super odd high concept brews. Let’s just hope it is really good to make up for it. Anyway, another one grabbed directly from their online store. Put on Ritualz –CDR for this. Not listened to it for a while and it is a really out there, moody electronic set of tracks that I felt the need to jump into again.

Tasting Notes: Founders: DKML

Founders: DKML (USA: Malt Liquor: 14.2% ABV)

Visual: Pale brown to apricot. Large creamy bubbled white to beige head.

Nose; Vanilla. Bourbon. Condensed cream. Toffee. Crushed Blackpool rock. Raspberry yogurt.

Body: Vanilla. Fudge. Cream. Rye biscuits. Grapes. Brown bread. Peppery. Cardboard. Cherries. Brown sugar. Liquorice.

Finish: Pepper. Rye crackers. Fudge. Cream. Brown bread. Rough alcohol edge – cheap spirit. Vanilla. Slight dried apricot. Unflavoured puff crisps.

Conclusion: I am fairly sure that this is leaning very, very heavily on the bourbon ageing to make it manageable. Now, for all that, I will admit the bourbon ageing does do its job well – lots of vanilla, toffee, cream and fudges notes. That part is very well done.

The base finds it hard to peak through all that bourbon, but when it does, it does seem like more of a mixed bag. There are cherry notes, grapes and even occasion apricot elements which are good, though none are too formidable, they are all lighter, harder to find elements. On the bad side of things, well there is an unfinished alcohol sheen, a kind of rough pepper to rye crackers thing, and even the dreaded cardboard notes. Some of these are elements that can be used well, but are just a tad rough here, some is just rough alcohol notes.

Taken in small amounts it is quite appealing and better than most examples of the… style that I have encountered; There has been a lot done to make the top half of the beer quite appealing. Unfortunately in the latter half of drinking this the body starts pushing the rough edges and unfinished alcohol style into a more unenjoyable look.

An interesting experiment and half a good beer, but also half a massive failure of a beer, and together not one I would say to grab.

Background: Malt Liquor? Something I’ve pretty much only ever encountered in the USA, and, frankly, tends to be more than a tad grebby. Thus I was intrigued by this – a malt liquor by the respected Founders brewery, aged in bourbon barrels, and one that actually has a decent reputation on review aggregation sites. So, ok, I thought – let’s do the first malt liquor review of the site and hope for the best. Yet again, one grabbed from Independent Spirit. Put on Miracle Of Sound’s Level 8 collection of film and video game inspired music while drinking this – the guy is a genuine music maestro.

Tasting Notes: Uiltje: Lekker Bakkie Kobi – Cognac Barrel Aged

Uiltje: Lekker Bakkie Kobi – Cognac Barrel Aged (Netherlands: Imperial Stout: 14.9% ABV)

Visual: Black. Still. Pours with a large creamy brown head that quickly descends to a more normal size.

Nose: Spiced rum. Creamy chocolate. Thick marmalade. Cognac. Cherries. Red and white grapes. Strawberries.

Body: Thick and creamy. Sherry trifle. Rum and port. Rum soaked raisins. Brandy cream. Creamy chocolate. Strawberry syrup. Cognac. Slight liquorice. Nougat. Figgy pudding. Glacier cherries.

Finish: Creamy cognac. Marmalade. Milky chocolate. Fondue. Strawberry ice cream and syrup. Fig rolls. Slight liquorice.

Conclusion: Oh god this is rich. Very thick, very creamy, very heavy indeed. In a world where high abv beers seem to be ashamed of that fact, hiding themselves behind super smooth, comparatively light bodies, it is refreshing to run into one that wears its full weight on its sleeve. In fact, it wears it on its sleeve and then sews on patches made of spirit scrawled obscenities to double down on that fact.

It isn’t harsh though, isn’t burning – just spirity, weighty – it doesn’t have that flaw of high alcohol, just the immense presence that comes with it.

The base body feels fruity with dark figs, raisins and cherries – but most of the room there is taken up by the wide range of spirity notes that the cognac ageing has brought in. It feels like its has been aged in multiple barrels rather than just cognac – you get what feels like spicy rum, brandy cream, and of course the thick marmalade cognac notes. It is lovely. The barrel ageing utterly dominates, but the solid base below is far from lost. There is little subtlety left, but it manages to keep the more intense flavours for pounding complexity.

As time goes on a chewy nougat character builds, adding a more thick mouthfeel to an already heavy beer. Even the late addition of liquorice doesn’t feel out of place – in fact it comes in as a much needed dryness amongst an otherwise intensely sweet monster. Now, this isn’t a beer for everyone – while not sickly sweet, it is still very intense in the sweet character, so not for those who prefer a drier, roasted or more bitter stout.

Stupidly sweet, and stupidly heavy, but makes it work. Very fun, very good, very barrel aged.

Background: Ok, from the very Starbucks looking label, I guessed this was going to be a coffee infused stout – but nope. According to the bottle, they planned to do that initially, but changed their mind after trying it after it had been aged in Cognac casks for 19 months. Fair enough. Grabbed from Independent Spirit, and drunk in the slightly cooler weather while listening to some Judas Priest – Screaming for Vengeance to be precise. Some slightly cheesy but fun metal.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Paradox Rye

Brewdog: Paradox Rye (Scotland: Imperial Stout: 15% ABV)

Visual: Black. Short lived brown creamy head that settles to a loose bubble dusting.

Nose: Milk chocolate. Tiramisu. Bourbon. Caramel. Crushed rye crackers. Praline. Crushed walnuts and coffee cake.

Body: Bitter chocolate and coffee cake. Smooth. Low alcohol character. Caramel. Vanilla fudge. Cocoa dust. Slightly bready. Bourbon comes out as it warms.

Finish: Coca dust. Rye crackers. Crushed peanuts. Chocolate cake. Coffee cake. Crushed walnuts and pecan pie. Spirity air. Bourbon.

Conclusion: This has been less influenced by the rye bourbon ageing than I had imagined – at least at first. Initially the alcohol feel, and bourbon feel, in this is pretty low. Alcohol warmth but that is about it on that side.

Instead it is very smooth – chocolate cake and coffee cake styled luxury imperial stout. A lot more nutty that previous Paradoxes though – which I presume is a more subtle piece of influence from the time in the oak.

Strangely there is very little of the big vanilla notes that you tend to get with American oak ageing. Even as the beer warms, and a bourbon air comes out in the finish, it is more subtle than usual. This finally revealed oak ageing influence seems a mixed blessing. It gains a slight spirity feel as it warms. I prefer this sort of thing to feel integrated into the beer, while here it seems to float as a separate note rather than part of the beer itself. Also, for all the beer seems to gain a good nuttiness, in general the beer feels like a very smooth base Paradox separate from those spirity notes. There are comparatively few added elements outside the bourbon air.

So, a mixed blessing, but still a blessing to have spent time in the oak. The oak rest has made it smooth as hell, and the base notes are emphasised in exceptionally good ways because of that. Praline for the chocolate, rich for the coffee cake, and the aforementioned great range of nuts. Very good – it just feels like it needs either less oak influence to ditch the spirity air and indulge the luxury, or more oak influence to add more complex layers to justify the spirit air.

So, not perfect, but a very luxurious smooth imperial stout. Feels like either a great example of what you would want from an unaged imperial stout, or a slightly weak take on an aged one. Make of that what you will.

Background: Ok, we all know the drill by now – big imperial stout. Aged in barrels – in this case Rye bourbon. As always I am not an unbiased actor in Brewdog beer. Grabbed from the Brewdog store. Think that covers the usual stuff. Despite being canned now, this still comes in a presentation box. Which seems a bit of a waste of material, and looks a tad silly. I used to be up for the more fancy things around beers, when they were used occasionally for really special stuff. They are used for so much these days the novelty has worn off and it just looks like an unnecessary waste of resources. Wanted some simple but heavy music for drinking this – so shoved on some Obituary. Nice, heavy and guitar led. Job done.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Paradox Islay (2016)

Brewdog: Paradox Islay (2016) (Scotland: Imperial Stout: 15%)

Visual: Black. Brown froth edge, and light brown dusting across the still main body.

Nose: Iodine. Wet rocks. Black coffee. Bitter cocoa. Light salt. Brown bread rolls.

Body: Charred oak. Medicinal dryness. Bitter chocolate. Dry character. Riesen chocolate chews. Toffee. Resinous middle.

Finish: Charred oak. Drying. Bready. Popcorn. Medicinal. Bitter cocoa. Nettles. Slightly resinous. Chocolate toffee. Liquorice. Treacle. Smoke.

Conclusion: This is drier than I expected. I don’t know if it is due to the medicinal barrel ageing, or if they have changed the recipe, but this is very different from the usual intensely sweet and frothy Paradox we have generally seen since the jump to 15% abv.

It still has the chocolate and coffee notes, but then now lean more towards the bitter side rather than the creamy or sweet interpretations – less booming and less boozy, which I would imagine would be welcome for some. For me it seems slightly weird, slightly more restrained the base beer feels closer to the old 10% abv Paradox style from many a year gone by.

With a smaller base it instead become all very big in the medicinal influence, a reasonable bitter chocolate kick, but it definitely feels like it is letting more of the oak show. Also oddly it is slightly more resinous alongside that Islay character. Now, I loved the 2015 version of this as I felt it provided the perfect balancing of the base stout’s character and the Islay punch. This leans too much towards the Islay for me and because of that a lot of the complexity of the base beer seems to have got lost beneath it.

It doesn’t make it a bad beer as I often say, but it does mean that is basically exactly what you would expect from this kind of barrel ageing, but not really more than that. It is still fine, but for me the Islay ageing always works better with a bigger character to complement it, otherwise they will end up the same as every other Islay aged stout.

It is still a competent beer and does show the barrel ageing well, but hasn’t anything really on top of that. Not disappointing if that is all you want, but it doesn’t stand out.

Background: Back in 2015 I tried on tap a 13.8% ABV Paradox Islay and it was amazing, at 15%, and bottled I’m guessing this is a bit of a different recipe, and probably aged in a different Islay Distilleries cask – so a great excuse to do another set of notes then 🙂 Grabbed directly from the Brewdog online store along with a few other beers, this was drunk while listening to Garbage: Strange Little Birds. Not quite as exceptional as their first two albums, but still a great one burst of alt-rock whateverthehecktheyare. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers.