Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist

What say you? A 11% beer from Utah? I call BS. It's true. Understanding the Mormon State beer law is tricky, just know that you can get beer in Utah that can get you a bigger buzz than Kombucha. This dude is a bulldozer of a beer that is the complete package. If you were looking for that hot actress that you know you can't have (Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman or Mena Suvari...maybe just my random mind), this would be her....and you can have her/it/him, because Epic distributes to about half of the US.

This beauty pours with a nice dirty brown and dare I say, creamy looking head. This is what you might expect a nitro poured beer to look like on an off day. Very pretty...looks like liquid chocolate.

Smell is of that half milk and half dark chocolate combo. Maybe a 50% save the rainforest cacao bar you might pick up at a hippy bungalow in Berkeley. A bit chalky and definite sweetness in the aroma. Reminds me of taking a Ghirardelli factory tour...lots of great nose candy here. Yes, there is also some dark roast coffee to be found lingering as well.

Taste confirms the nose to a "T". Lots of mild dark chocolate with just a touch of a Carnation malted milk flavor. Remember those days as a kid going to the ballpark and getting a malt...yeah, this guy will take you right back to that exciting 1-0 victory that went 14 innings, where you got to witness 426 crotch grabs and lots of "had you on your edge of your seat" foul tips. When is football back? Anywho, chocolate, you get it...three ways, dark, milk and malt. The coffee is here, but takes a backseat to the moo milk.

It's not quite as thick as I would like, but I have to remember it's not a 20% Black Tuesday. It's mouth coating, but not overly viscous. There are hops in here. A nice bitterness leaves the back of the roof of your mouth tingling.

This has always been one of my favorite go to stouts. I originally found it back in Arizona and was beyond the moon when I started seeing it distributed the Northern California. It's a super easy drinker for it's size and goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some fresh berries. Of the thousands of beers I've tried over the past 20 years, I would say this one would crack my top 20. Sorry, I'm still not going to move to Utah though.

Eric Brewing Big Bad Baptist, 10.8%