Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

2008 bottle. Clear red-orange pour with a thin fluffy white head. Nice lacing on the glass. Fruity aroma with lots of caramel malt. Hints of cream. Creamy malt flavor with peachy grapefruit flavor. Roasty backbone with hints of chocolate. Lots of bitter hops to finish. Alcohol and bitterness linger on the tongue. Still a little harsh.

Thanks to Hank1980 for the bottle!
Transparent ruby-amber with a large layer of yellowish-white foam for a head. Nose is quite balanced, lots of hop bitterness and caramel playing off of bready malt. A little spicy and earthy in addition to what I think is tangerine. Flavor incorporates floral with the herbal hop and crusty malt, adding a chocolate sweetness. There is more alcohol than the nose. Lots of malt in the aftertaste. Pleasant mouth, not too sticky or salty yet still robust. Overall nicely balanced and simultaneously nicely varied.

Appearance: 2008. Dark amber. Good amount of off-white head. Aroma: Dark malt, dark fruit. Slightly sweet. Liquorice. Taste: Warming, strong, roasted, liquorice. Very bitter aftertaste. Info: 350ml bottle, 6/11-2008, 188/300

muddy reddish brown. aromas of sweet malt, a bit grainy, and dark fruit. The flavor is very hoppy on the front. A bit of hot alcohol and then the sweetness and stonefruit come in. The finish has an almost cappicino/cocoa or chalky dryness. My first barleywine rating, so I can’t give it a great rating yet.

Smell is hops and more hops, a little sweet and a little alcohol. Taste is hops and a roasted flavor, a sweet and alcohol bite. I Like.

Getting notebook online. Bottle 2007. Very malty with sweetness. Roasted malt some caramel, a bit or dark dried fruits. Very good.

2006 bottle. Dark murky amber, lacing tiny head. Syrupy malty nose, nuts, liquorice, strong hops. Strong caramel malty and nutty flavor, liquorice, hops of course. Lingering syrupy and bitter finish. Warming, hoppy barley wine, seems to get that nutty character with age.

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to not only rate SN Bigfoot, but to even taste it! And what a way to do it, we did a 15 year vertical that included 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997-2008. It was definitely interesting to see how this one aged and it really did age well. I think the peak was about 5-6 years old. As expected, the tastes and aromas went from earthy, woody, caramel, and sweet to citric, bitter, floral, and fruity (the fruitiness really started at about 2001 and newer). The 1990 definitely had a port quality to it with molasses, very and woody. The 1994 stood out from the earlier vintages. Lots more tobacco, somewhat smoky, and leathery. The 1995 had some citrus and a trace of hops left in the backend. The body was creamy from 2004-2008 which corresponded to the way they poured (the larger and sustained heads poured during this same time frame). The newer ones where a bit ’hot’. The pours went from darker and small headst to lighter and larger heads.