Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Chico, California USA

Dark amber appearance; Good amount of off-white head. Aroma: fruity? Slightly sweet. To much hops for my taste; started mid sip and gets strong at end..

12 oz bottle of 2009 Bigfoot. Pours clear, red-tinged brown, with a medium off-white head. Pours clear, red-tinged brown, with a medium off-white head. Aroma is hoppy citrus and spice, with some sweetness, bread, hints of caramel and dark fruit, and a bit of alcohol hotness. Flavor is spicy hops up front, citrus hops, grains, caramel. Quite a hoppy barley wine, very tasty. Re-rating another bottle as I believe my palate was somewhat off the day of my first rating due to lack of sleep.

Deep amber color with a creamy off white head. Grainy aroma with a hint of fruit. Very rich body, sweet flavor with a bitter and slightly dry finish.

2009 Bottle. Very impressed with this one. Picked up a 6 pack of these recently not expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Despite a lower cost and wider availability of some of the comparable choices this one stands right up to them. Good color, spiciness and hopiness. Despite a higher than 9% ABV very little alcohol taste. Highly recommend this one.

Bottle, 2004 Vintage, served at cellar temperature. The beer is a beautiful brownish red in the glass with a modest, off white head, plenty of lacing. The aroma is full of pine, grapefruit in the hops with some subtle fruity tones hinting underneath. I taste hop bitterness with some underlying caramel malt, more fruit, alcohol.

Pours a reddish amber with a small head that forms after the pour has completed. After tasting this, I think that the only difference between this and many IPAs out there is its alcohol content. I mean, you could pass this off as an IPA if you wanted. This is due to its high hoppiness and low sweetness for a barleywine. It’s still very high quality, it’s just that I’m enjoying it more in the context of an IPA, not the sweet, syrupy, malty barleywines that I’m used to (and like very much that way, thank you). I like hoppiness just like the next guy, but there are certain scenarios where a blast of hops isn’t necessary. Not if you plan to call it a barleywine, at least. But that’s just my opinion and everyone is entitled to his own. Overall, very good.

12oz bottle from Binny’s Orland Park singles rack. Pours reddish brown with nice thick off-whitish beighe head. Aroma is hoppy with citrus, pine, toffee and caramel malts. Flavor is strong with hops and citrus with big spicy malt backbone. Good malty flavors with toffee and caramel with some spices mixed. Could see why people like to age this brew. Would like to try one with a couple years of age on it. Good stuff.

Tap @ Monster B’s. For me, this doesn’t really taste like a barleywine but more like a strong IPA. Strong hop flavor for a barleywine and a surprisingly frothy head.