Big Pepé - Barrel-Aged
Yazoo Brewing Company

 

If the original Pepe Cinnamon Milk Stout has folks sharing a glass with both Stout and chai tea, its bigger and barrel aged brother has turned that glass into a snifter. With more than just a hint of cinnamon, Yazoo Brewing once again comes to the winter table with a cinnamon spiced Imperial Milk Stout that adds complexities of bourbon and oak as well.

Boldly black and pouring like espresso, Pepe releases a frothy sand-stained cap and a robust scent of espresso, cream, cinnamon, cocoa and booze soaked oak. Firmly malty, a taste of sorghum and molasses brings and early sweetness that lingers through the duration of taste.

The bulk of the malt's focus soon shifts to the roasty, toasty and earthy edge much like the original. espresso-types of coffee rise with a bittersweet chocolate that hinges on the bitter side of bittersweet. With the caramelized and roasted malts trending drier, the late palate is filled with strong cinnamon and then a rounded taste of gingersnaps start to emerge. Trending woodsy in its bitterness late in taste, the hops seem coffee-like, and reinforced with a spicy bitterness to close.

Full in body but not without a drier and slightly more acrid balance, a light astringency pulls from the bitterness and allows its spice to dry the beer further, creating an cinnamon spice balance that's part from roast of grain and part from heated rummy spice and barrel tannins..