BEER: BREWDOG Paradox Jura

Scotland's BrewDog have built their name by brewing in your face beers that are packed with flavour. The Paradox range has been running for a while with imperial stouts weighing around 10-15% being aged for a few months in different whiskey casks.

Being a huge fan of this style and of the previous versions I've tried (Speyside and Isle of Arran), the new release coming from Jura casks was most tempting and I was most pleased when the Pumphouse in Darling Harbour came up with the goods (albeit at the scary price of $45 a bottle).


It's 15% and packed with sweet malt, milk chocolate and roasted nuts. It's definitely big and sweet but there is some restraint to it so it doesn't become overpowering and the other flavours provide plenty of interest so your palate doesn't get bored, which is a risk with big stouts. The background heat from the whiskey is all there on the mid and back palates, but thankfully isn't as over the top as in some beers of this nature.

It needs to be sipped slow and savoured. Probably not best suited for a hot Sydney weekend arvo, but nonetheless I enjoyed it tremendously for the textbook scotch-aged-imperial-stout that it is.

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