Big Bad Baptist - Gingerbread
Epic Brewing Company

L: Pours dark chocolate, forming a thin tan tortilla head, which is slow to fade. Leaves a thick layer of surface retention with effervescent bubbles rising to the top, and a thick ring of lacing around the edge of the snifter. Held to the light, this beer has an opaque carob hue.

S: Overpowering level of gingerbread in the initial aromas. Notes of roasted malt, toffee, allspice, cinnamon, and coffee grounds.

T: Follows the nose. Heavy gingerbread influence, but less overpowering than on the nose. Coffee roast, burnt sugar, allspice, and cinnamon follow. Transitions to vanilla, nutmeg, and a light charred malt. Fainter notes of oak and bourbon in the finish, which has some heat.

F: Medium-bodied. A bit lighter than expected. Smooth, silky mouthfeel. Decent level of carbonation.

O: If you like holiday spices, you will enjoy this beer. It's a fine beer on its merits but a little too eccentric to rate in the upper echelons.

 

 

On tap at Brew Bank Topeka. Poured an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of gingerbread, toffee, caramel and some roasted malt. Nice chocolate taste with gingerbread, toffee and caramel.

Poured from 22oz bottle into Chimay goblet.

L - Deep black-brown pour. With a teak foamy head that dissipated quickly.

S - Cinnamon, vanilla, applesauce (sounds strange, but it's there).

T - Nutmeg, allspice, treacle bitterness. The cinnamon and vanilla are on the back, with a slight acidity. Some slight alcohol heat and barrel to finish.

F - Warm, smooth, with a light syrupiness.

A pleasant sipper. The spices come through nicely and the stout sweetness compliments the overall experience.

 

22oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Perfect black color. A vigorous pour only manages to kick up a half finger of head, and it doesn't last long. Thin and delicate rings of lacing.

S: Holiday spices greet the nose first. The token blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice is actually done very well. Everything meshes neatly to build a gingerbread character that pops. Icing. Undercurrents of blackstrap molasses. Flash of mocha. Background notes of roast, heavy fudge, dark caramel chews, bourbon, and faint oak.

T: Roast, fudge, burnt crust, black coffee grounds, and blackstrap molasses up front. Holiday spices hang out on the mid palate. All blend together into one distinct spice note, although here they come across more spice and less gingerbread. Big, warming pull of bourbon stops just short of going hot. Caramel and corn wash. Char and oak. All bourbon and barrel on the finish.

M: Full and thick in the mouth. Weighty but not sludgey. It presses gently into the tongue with a silky creaminess. Big bite of seltzery carbonation. It's a bit too much here and it scrubs the hell out of the texture and has too much carbonic bite. Big warming bourbon presence almost rides to an uncomfortable level, but doesn't derail the experience.

O: Doesn't quite come together. The nose is great, but in taste it just comes across as spices but no gingerbread. The biggest problems are that the barrel comes on a bit too strong, and so does the carbonation. Not terrible, but if I could do it all over again I'd skip this bottle.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a thin khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, gingerbread, cinnamon, vanilla and mild whiskey and cocoa; no coffee. Flavor is dark toasted malt, gingerbread (cake, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg), with ginger appropriately the most dominant, whiskey, light cocoa and vanilla; hints of coffee, mostly in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess; a little on the thin side for a barreled stout. I had decided this year that I would not buy all the versions of BBB, but they have stayed on the market for a while and keep popping up and tempting me in unexpected places. This one sounded like the most iffy variant, but I sprung for it today. I have to say the aroma is amazingly like gingerbread; even has the sweet bready character of that dessert as well as the ginger dominated spice mixture. The flavor is a little muddier, but still has some cake charm and complex spicing. As usual, the coffee is subdued and the whiskey is less forward, but probably because of the spicing. I really like the base stout for these and have enjoyed just about all of them; it helps that the coffee is mellow and does not seem to give me big caffeine effect. I liked this one and am impressed with the realistic gingerbread character, but I think the spicing is a bit busy (like in the pastry. The spicing, while complex, is deftly handled and still tasted good after a full glass. They have a winner in this series of stouts.

22 ounce bomber into a snifter.
Smells like The Holidaze.
Tastes like The Holidaze - thankfully the combo of spices are not taken over by cinnamon! It’s a gingerbread cookie dipped in chocolate coffee. Nice.,
Feel is a tad thin. Carb is right and festive.
Overall, a right fine Christmas beer. Not over done. Not syrupy, not over sweet.

A: Pours an opaque yet still clear thick viscous jet black in color with moderate amounts of active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and faint dark chestnut brown + dark cola brown + dark amber colored highlights. The beer has a two finger tall dense sudsy foamy dark tan head that slowly reduces to a handful of small patches of medium thick film surrounded by a large patch of mottled very thin film covering the remainder of the surface of the beer and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Light to moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of gingerbread spices (ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg) along with light to moderate aromas of vanilla. Underneath are slightly stronger than moderate aromas of roasted + dark + chocolate + caramel malts with light to moderate amounts of caramel sweetness and hints of charred malts. Light aromas of dark chocolate + cacao nibs + coffee and slightly heavier than light aromas of whiskey + toasted oak.

T: Upfront there are slightly stronger than moderate flavors of roasted + dark + chocolate + caramel malts with light to moderate amounts of caramel sweetness and hints of charred malts. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors of gingerbread spices (ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg) along with light to moderate flavors of vanilla along with light flavors of dark chocolate + cacao nibs + coffee. Finally there are light to moderate flavors of whiskey + toasted oak along with light flavors of earthy hops. Moderate amounts of roasty bitterness which lingers into the finish with moderate lingering gingerbread spices + whiskey.

M: Slightly heavier than medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Smooth with a hint of alcohol warming.

O: Drinks pretty easily considering the strength with well hidden alcohol and a smooth albeit slightly lighter than some other whiskey barrel aged stouts mouthfeel. Enjoyable with lots of gingerbread flavors though not nearly the amount of sweetness that other gingerbread beers contain. I enjoyed the fact that it was not overly sweet but this may not be the most enjoyable variant of this beer that I have tried.

I’m not sure how the addition of goodies like Allspice, Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Vanilla could make a stout worse, but that is exactly what has happened here. It simply isn’t a very good tasting variant. Probably it suffers because there are too many different mulling spices competing for attention and not enough sweetness. More restraint is in order; maybe just additional cinnamon and chocolate, or just cocoa nibs and vanilla, and allspice, etc. In particular I think cloves and ginger together is a bit much, it tastes like I spilled my Asian marinade in my BBB. It does not taste something like a ginger bread cookie, which is what I was hoping for and perhaps what was intended, I don’t know.

Pours dark, golden brown with a thin head but moderate carbonation. Allspice, Cinnamon and nutmeg can all be detected on the aroma, with a ginger as well but not overly so. Taste is lighter than expected, with the spices, chocolate and vanilla present here. A drinkable Big Bad.

another fun variant this year, nicely timed for me around the holidays, really hits that festive spice mix, original baptist glory fully in tact here, not overdone on the spices, and especially cool to find this on tap! looks like most of the others, frothy light brown head an inch high and big bubbled and lasting on top of a close to black, moderately viscous body with satin luster. the nose of this is bright from the spices, the ginger seems fresh and in front of any other added ingredient, as it should be, natural and in the nose more fresh and juiced, in the flavor more dry and powdered, not sure how they add it, but the proportions with this in the lead is nice for both senses, ever so slightly sharp on the palate as it warms, but thats what ginger does. the cinnamon is subtle, warming and wintery and cozy, but not overdone, definitely more actual gingerbread in the aroma than the flavor, but its a good approximation. not too much vanilla either, which is a common pitfall in big stout, here its most evident right on the swallow and once this is up to temperature, it enhances and softens the spices and definitely gives it a baked vibe. i also get subtle nutmeg, anise, and even cardamom, almost floral in the nose, a potpourri thing, more mild and balanced in the taste, bitter from the spices and the roast together, as well as the coffee in base baptist, which i dont think they took out of this, definite coffee among all the darkness to my nose and tongue, perhaps an unintended interaction with the spices used, but i dont mind, better than being too desserty. seems slightly drier than other variants as a result too. more oak and char than whiskey on this one, the spices may trump some of that, but i do not think this is overdone, i like it being kind of zesty. nice fuller body, long to drink on still, complex and layered, warms up great, and seems perfect for chirstmas time. i look forward to these every year, and they pretty much never disappoint!

 

Initially thought this would be my favorite of the 2022 bunch, and it started out that way initially when drinking it - I love a solid but not overpowering dose of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) in a stout. Definitely some flavors of gingerbread here, this one gets a bit harsh with the spices overall, and the body is a touch thin with a boozy characteristic. Still a good drink overall, just didn't need 22 ounces of it.