Big Bad Baptist - Blueberry Pie
Epic Brewing Company

Pours a dark cola brown and settles black in the glass with a cream tan head that provides some lacing and a really nice cap on the body of the beer. Beautiful impy stout.

The nose is BLUEBERRIES, some lemon, roasty malt, a bit of chocolate and barrel, and more BLUEBERRIES. Did I mention blueberries?

The taste is likewise heavy on blueberries, but there’s just enough roasty malt, chocolate, and barrel (which is a warming at the back of the palate) to provide balance so this isn’t cloying, but is definitely delicious IMHO.

The mouthfeel is full and creamy, fitting this beer really well. I wish o had more of this.

 

16oz can opened 8-10-24.
1/4" beige head that falls to a thin cap quickly. Dark brown body. Some spotty lacing.
Graham cracker, blueberry, and a spicy wood barrel note in the aroma.
Bluberry dominant and a lingering chocolate note and faint bourbon.
Medium body, round mouthfeel, low carbonation - a little heat.
Sweet start with a roasty, boozy edge that lingrs long in the finish.
Good.

ive long thought dark berries like this would be heady in a baptist variant, and i loved double jam when it dropped awhile back, now this is really good with the blueberries, my wife adored it, and even though its on the edge of being over flavored for my tastes and at the expense of the wonderful base beer, you just have to love it, so tasty, distinctive, and interesting, loaded with berries, must have taken a ton of fruit or fruit puree or whatever they used to get it to come all the way through the enormous stout, well done. its neat that they go beyond just the blueberries too into that pie realm by adding lemon and cinnamon. i think both work wonders in support roles here. the lemon cuts the blueberry sweetness, uplifts the heavy roasty grain base, and adds an intriguing piquant element that i think lends to the tannins in the berries and the appearance of real fruit there. the cinnamon helps approximate pie crust and lattice top, it makes it warming, and there are obvious compatibilities with the oak and whiskey and they highlight each other in this. its all very cohesive, the warming alcohol adds to the cozy vibes this already has, and i still get some of the bitterness and dark grain intensity of the original underneath it all. jammy and silky, hints of vanilla and molasses and cocoa, and the barrel treatment adds a lot without being a leading element. delicious overall, warms up nicely, and might be my favorite of the 2023 variants ive had so far...

Clear dark brown with minimal foam. The most peculiar fruity smell with mint and orange in the nose. Actually this tastes more like mint liqueur than anything with berries. And then the hot alcohol afterburn, chased by the bizarre orange peel and medicine taste.

I must be missing some chromosomes, because I find this too ghastly to drink. A couple of sips tell me all I need to know, and sadly wasn't expecting. An experience to be missed, but at least I will not have to waste more money of BBB variants. From the 16 oz can purchased at a southern Calif beer store.

Pours a beautiful mahogany dark brown, with a light head. As soon as I opened the can, it wafted this wonderful blueberry smell. Aroma is almost entirely blueberry pie, with a bit of bourbon as well. Taste, which by the way went down far too smoothly, was blueberry and bourbon equally. One of my favorite of the Baptist series.

Look: almost black with a medium height dark taupe head

Smell: a lot of blueberry danish sweetness with a subtle hint of the "soy sauce" smell and flavor I often get from stouts.

Taste: a really nice stout flavor with an overlay of sweetness and packaged Danish blueberry flavor. I myself like a packaged blueberry danish, but if you aren't a fan you won't like this.

Overall: a nice option when you are looking for a beer that doubles as a dessert, though not much favorite in the category.

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a one finger dark khaki head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, blueberries, nutmeg and mild cocoa. Flavor is dark toasted malt, nutmeg, blueberry and light whiskey and barrel wood. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. Every year I decide I'm only allowed to choose a couple of BBB variants (so many stouts in queue at this time of year) and every year I get every one I can find. This year is no different. I'm starting with the one that seemed the most iffy; I'm not a huge fan of fruit in stout, but am often pleasantly surprised. And that's true here, but I think mostly because of the nutmeg. The blueberry is authentic tasting and at a near perfect level, adding some clear blueberry notes, but not much tartness. There is satisfactory whiskey, but the main barrel influence for me is a woody character that is more like fresh cut lumber than oaky vanilla. I think it is interacting with the woodiness of the nutmeg to create an interesting fresh wood taste. The nutmeg is a bit forward, but I think the best component of the taste; oddly a blueberry pie with this much nutmeg would not work as well, but It is interesting here. Unique and fun to drink. Despite my trepidation, a fine start to the series.