Brewdog has another Paradox Islay stout coming from Scotland. This one has been aged in Smokehead Islay barrels from Ian McLeod Distillers. Initial beer reviews appear to be quite favorable. The guys also blogged about another new project last month:

We had 2 Invergordon 1965 whisky casks, Invergordon is a fantastic grain whisky with amazing coconut, vanilla and toffee flavours. The fact the whisky had been in the cask for 42 years prior to use getting it made it even more special. We decided to combine 3 of our favourite things; old whisky casks, Martin’s grandmother’s strawberries and Hardcore IPA.

We filled both casks with our 9% Imperial India pale ale along with a whopping 30 kilos of fresh strawberries […]

Has such a combination ever been tried in the states? Considering there are only two casks, it would seem unlikely that we see any in the U.S. Some beers can be purchased on the website, however. The beer is closing in on fourteen months and may even be available for sale in November.

More on the International front…though Preiss Imports brings Brewdog to the U.S., most of the other notable imports come through the Shelton Brothers. Rather than get fancy, here is just one part of Matt Dinges’ response to an inquiry about upcoming imports:

“There is some cool stuff going on with German beer, from small, artisanal brewers in Franconia, our first shipment from Finland is in the works, more beers coming from real craft breweries in Japan, some things being worked on in Spain (yes there are a couple of artisanal brewers there)…we are pretty much everywhere that good beer is being made in small batches by artisans.

We are just about to send beer to Puerto Rico, vastly improving the beer scene there. Our contact tells us right now only a handful of mainstream beer brands are available on the island. With this first small shipment from us, we’ll easily quadruple that number with real craft beers!

We are also working to send good US beers back across the ocean…to Europe, Japan, South America, India. We hope 2009 will see us getting a lot more active in that area.”

So who is the brewer from Finland? The Franconia brewer appears to be Brauerei Keesmann. Another Shelton update (or two) is will come in the next couple days. Do a search for Nogne O and Dieu du Ciel on this site, also imported through Shelton, to see what I recently reported that those breweries will be bringing into the States.