February Stout Month doesn’t believe in subtlety, and neither does Epic Brewing — which makes this pairing feel preordained, etched somewhere deep in the Black Map. Founded in Salt Lake City in 2010, Epic built its reputation by charging headlong into high-ABV territory in a state that once treated anything north of 4 percent like contraband. Big IPAs, colossal stouts, and a swaggering disregard for restraint became the house language. For a while, the story stretched across state lines, with a second gravity well in Denver, until 2023 pulled everything back home. What looked like retreat was really a return to form: fewer distractions, more oak, more intensity, more devotion to the dark arts. Epic didn’t shrink. It sharpened.
Within that sharpened focus lives the Big Bad Baptist — less a beer than a ruling house, a barrel-born oracle presiding over its own Stoutdom. Born as a coffee-driven imperial stout and transformed through years of barrel aging, variants, and fan devotion, the Baptist became a lineage: pastry-laced, spice-bitten, cocktail-shaped, limited, coveted, occasionally feared. It doesn’t whisper from the margins of stout culture. It rules. Chocolate is scripture here. Bourbon is law. ABV is not a warning but a credential. Each incarnation is a different crown worn by the same dark monarch, reminding us that excess, when practiced with intention, can feel ceremonial rather than reckless.
Which brings us to this week’s descent during February Stout Month: The Seven Stoutdoms. Today’s Epic flight claims a corner of The High Barrels realm, where oak and patience reign and consequences are part of the charm. Peaks & Pints presents five expressions of the Big Bad Baptist, each one a different domain within the same shadowed empire. From dessert-drenched decadence to steel-edged restraint, from masked spectacle to cocktail-dark seduction and final-boss authority, this is not a flight so much as a barrel-aged saga. Sip slowly. Bow if you must. The Stoutkeeper is absolutely paying attention.
Peaks & Pints February Stout Month: Big Bad Baptist Realm
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Macaron
11.5% ABV | Imperial Stout w/ Coconut, Almond & Vanilla
Macaron rules the Pastry Province with powdered sugar on its boots and bourbon on its breath. Built on the formidable Baptist base, it folds coconut, almond, and vanilla into dark chocolate depth until the glass smells like a candlelit bakery making questionable choices after midnight. Toasted coconut leads, marzipan hums beneath, and the barrel warmth pulls it all together in a slow, indulgent procession. Sweet but never fragile, elegant but happily unhinged, this is dessert that knows exactly how dangerous it is.
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Samurai
12.7% ABV | Imperial Stout Aged in Sake Barrels
Samurai governs the Quiet Steel district, where precision replaces brute force. Aged entirely in sake barrels, it trades bourbon thunder for restraint and tension — espresso, roasted malt, rice-wine stillness, and a subtle sweetness that glides rather than clings. Oak whispers instead of flexing. The finish lands dry and contemplative, sharp as moonlight on a blade.
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Lucha Libre
13% ABV | Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout w/ Chocolate, Cinnamon, Vanilla & Chiles
Lucha Libre storms the arena in full regalia, cape snapping, cocoa flying. Chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, and chiles stack atop the barrel-aged stout like layers of spectacle, turning the aroma alone into a dare. The sip delivers full drama — silky chocolate, glowing oak, cinnamon warmth, and a rising chile shimmer that lands with theatrical timing. Bold, expressive, and unapologetically loud, this is the masked champion of the realm, finishing every bout to roaring applause.
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Manhattan
13.5% ABV | Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
Manhattan presides over the Velvet Lounge, where everything moves slower and nothing is accidental. Coffee, cacao, cherry, and a curl of orange peel drift through the dark body, reshaping the classic cocktail into something heavier and more seductive. Each sip slides from cherry cordial to roasted espresso to bittersweet bourbon hush, dim lights flickering at the edges.
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist The Godfather
15.2% ABV | Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
The Godfather rules the High Barrels’ inner sanctum, emerging slowly with oak-scarred authority and velvet-lined menace. Aged deep in bourbon, it radiates dark chocolate gravity, roasted coffee depth, and charred wood confidence. The aroma alone feels contractual — fudge, tobacco, vanilla, and warm bourbon promising consequences. On the palate, it rolls heavy and deliberate, finishing long enough to negotiate terms.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
