So I had heard some positives about Big Bad Baptist from Epic Brewing Co. It gets a 96 on Beer Advocate. It pours a dark brown, almost black. It has a great coffee aroma. Medium bodied with a mild tannin tang, it has nice malt undertones. This is a very good coffee beer. It is comparable to Founders Breakfast Stout, Terrapin Wake and Bake, or Sixpoint 3 Beans. Light bodied with minimal unfermentable sugars it's not a Big, Bad Imperial Stout. If anything is big or bad, it would just be the omnipresent coffee character. This is a great breakfast beer. Put up against evening sipping ales, this one would fall flat on it's face. But to it's defense I don't think it is stylistically supposed to be a full bodied, high gravity ale. I should also mention this is batch 17. Since Epic uses different coffee for different batches. My overall impression has been this, first sip was very disappointing, I thought 'never gonna get this one again, even though it's good', then as I continued to sip it grew on me. I realized my expectations where not aligned with the style. As I sipped I got the slight dry chalkiness of the cocoa nibs, the underlying complexities and boldness of the coffee. So from the start of this bottle to the end my opinions have done a 150, not a 180. I thought it was decent to start with, but it has progressed from decent to maybe one of the best coffee beers I have ever had. Whenever I have a coffee beer like this I want to do a side by side. Here is the issue with coffee side by sides. You have to do them all when the ales are super fresh. My Sixpoint 3 Beans is now a year old as is my Wake n' Bake. So neither is any good for a side by side. I am getting some 2013 Wake n' Bake and have fresh Breakfast stout. So I need to get to it when the WnB arrives. The time for my Sixpoint side by side went out the door last winter. If someone wants to send me a fresh 3 Beans that would be awesome. It is no longer distributed in West Michigan (shoot me an e-mail and I will send you some locals in return). I really want to do this. I honestly have no idea where each stands having them all at different times.
Back to the Big Bad Baptist, I just got some mild hops on the palate as it warmed. So yes, this is a good ale if you love breakfast beers. I do, especially when I have the week off work and I can start drinking before lunch.
