Epic Brewing has been a mainstay in Salt Lake City, UT since its genesis and as they continued to grow, added a Denver location in 2013. Their burgeoning beer roster is host to innovative beer that steers the entire industry in a new direction, as well as iconic anchors that satisfy the staunchest of purists. However, Big Bad Baptist, their iconic barrel-aged stout, has become the centerpiece that preaches to the ethos of both categories.

Big Bad Baptist was a success from inception and over recent years been used as the base canvas for so many other prolific iterations. Three years ago we saw the releases of Big Bad Baptista with vanilla, cinnamon, Mexican coffee roasted by Blue Copper and Solstice Chocolate cacao nibs. Last year Epic upped the ante with Triple Barrel Baptist which featured a beautiful blend of Big Bad Bapist, barrel-aged Colombia Risaralda coffee and barrel-aged coconut. So when Epic announced the 2018 variant Quadruple Barrel Big Bad Baptist, consumers had the same expectation for improvement. This Baptist delivers an emphatic sermon once again, restoring the zealotry to all of the faithful.

Blue Copper Coffee Roasters provided the coffee beans that were transferred to whiskey barrels. Shaved coconut and almonds were also aged in whiskey barrels, allowing each of these ingredients to soak up the character of the barrel. All of this was added to the base Big Bad Baptist, then aged in rum barrels. This makes up all of the four barrels in which this variant references in its name.

 

 

Sweet rum and marshmallow hit the nose first followed by the coffee and cacao nibs. The head pours light brown and mostly dissipates quickly, leaving only a light froth on top similar to the crema when you agitate coffee beans. The flavor profile is a symbiotic relationship of all of the ingredients together where the coffee and almonds dominate after first taste. The mouthfeel is dense and oily, leaving the coffee to linger for several moments followed by a bit more sweetness than its triple barrel aged brethren. The 10.3% ABV is cleverly hidden behind the divine intervention of cacao and marshmallow.

I read the testament and now I am here to spread the gospel. Quadruple Barrel Big Bad Baptist is being released on November 1 in the Salt Lake City and Denver stores. This year, Epic created a 500bbl batch of this gem that will also see national distribution through Epic’s markets sometime in the middle of November. Communications Director for Epic Brewing, Matthew Allred, posed a simple question to open his news release announcing this beer. The question was “How far is too far?” They went too far with this beer, and I am sure glad they did.

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