Epic Big Bad Baptist

This a 10.7% ABV imperial stout with cocoa nibs and coffee added, and then aged in whiskey barrels. It is release #6 of this beer from the Epic Brewing Company of Salt Lake City, Utah. I love that their website gives details on each release of this beer. This batch was brewed on December 6, 2011 and bottled on September 12, 2012. It used Caffe Ibis Sumatra Dark coffee and was aged in whiskey barrels and not bourbon barrels (they don't specify what kind of whiskey, we just know not bourbon). 

The beer pours as black as a deep vein of anthracite coal. You can get just a touch of dark brown on the very edge if you hold it to the light. There is a half inch of brown foam, it pours surprisingly fizzy, but the head does not last long. The aroma is coffee and cocoa forward, a bright and citrusy coffee, those two are running the show, hard to get much else, even much of the whiskey barrel. The taste is better than the aroma, rich, smooth, deeper, lots of coffee, but it is more subdued around the edges. The dark cocoa is still there throughout, some dark roasted malts peek out from the coffee and cocoa, and a hint of the whiskey barrel is detected, although I could use more. The alcohol warms without being hot. It drinks medium bodied, quite smooth. There is a strong coffee aftertaste.