Son of a Baptist, ! A .
, the Salt Lake city brewery that , tapped Oskar Blues’ for a special spawn of the coffee-infused imperial stout.
In recent months, Epic paired with artisan coffee roasters across the U.S. and churned out 13 varietals of Son of a Baptist, an 8 percent imperial stout. Although similar in vein to its father, forged its own path: It’s not barrel-aged and its “roast-forward” malt bill was intended to complement a variety of beans and the individual coffee notes sing, said Matthew Allred, Epic spokesman.
Son of a Baptist specialty release from Epic Brewing.
For Son of a Baptist #2, the espresso blend from Denver’s brought out notes of caramel, blueberry and banana. And for , released in California and brewed with Terra Incognita, the beer has notes of “ripe, red fruit, dark chocolate and smooth caramel,” Epic says.
And for the finale of the initial series, Epic is going out with a bang.
Epic tapped coffee-roasting business, , which had been playing around with barrel-aged beans. Epic officials said they were won over after tasting some barrel-aged Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee.
A couple of months back, Hotbox poured 40 pounds of the green Ethiopia Yirgacheffe into a tequila barrel responsible for a recent specialty Gubna release, said Mike Murfitt, the Longmont roaster’s “hotboxing expert.” For two and a half months, the beans sat and absorbed the flavors of the tequila and Gunba that had seeped into the walls of the barrel.
When the beans are roasted, the booze burns off, but the flavors remain, Murfitt said.
“The coffee was just phenomenal — unlike anything we had before,” Epic’s Allred said. “It was amazing how much of that tequila barrel it picked up — smokey, agave — as soon as we tried it, we decided we needed to have a special release with that coffee.”
In the coming weeks, No. 14 will be released in draft and 22-ounce bombers in Colorado and select markets.
After taking a hiatus this summer, Epic plans to release a line of SOB in 12-ounce cans across its distribution network, Allred said.
