Review 140
2/11/13
Epic
Brewing Company Exponential Series Big Bad Baptist Stout: 11.4%
Background: It’s easy to forget how young
the microbrewery boom is, and man is it a boom. We wanted to look outside of
Michigan, where a lot of the strong microbreweries are cropping up and jump all
the way to Utah. What’s in Utah? Epic Brewing Company. They aren’t the only
ones who go by this name, but the other brewing scene is in New Zealand so
let’s avoid that for the sake of simplicity. This group is from 2008, and as of
2010 they have 9 fermenters and that means more capacity. This would be
exciting for any business. I wouldn’t mind having a few fermenters myself! So a
little more about the beer, you might want to hear. Sounds like Epic’s
Exponential Series is a little more experimental, sitting alongside the Classic
Series and Elevated Series. Sure enough, this particular stout is not just an
off the line stout. It is brewed with cocoa nibs and coffee beans. It also sits
in the Imperial region with the longest title ever and a whopping 11% abv.
Nose: Cocoa,
coffee, vanilla, dry wood, sawdust, malt, dark, rich, apple, raisons, brown
sugar, earthy, light tobacco, chocolate, nutmeg
Arrival: Creamy,
light, easy, modest crispness, mellow, vanilla, caramel, coffee, apple
Body: Coffee,
frothy mouthfeel, oak, chocolate, crisp apple, vanilla, wheat, slight berry
notes
Finish: Cherry
sweetness, chocolate, mocha coffee, slight hops, heavy cream, wheat
Final Comments: So with
a slight earthiness and a huge, frothy creaminess to it, this is an interesting
stout, but what comes across as an interesting experiment turns into an
over-powering amount of coffee and cocoa influence. This is a complex enough
beer, but it is robbed by the domination of the coffee flavors. The gentle
character of this stout does fool you into forgetting that you’re dealing with
an Imperial bad boy here, and if that’s the kind of thing you like, here’s your
winner.
Why you’d buy it: You’re
a coffee drinker who likes soft stouts
Why you wouldn’t: You
want to get more out of your beer than coffee.
Score: 8.25/10
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