Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

pours a dark mahogany with a small head. aroma of cherries, hops, raisin, and some sweet malt- very nice on the nose. Flavor is excellent- surprising amount of bitterness, but still with the sweetness character of barleywine. Palate is very nice- sticks to the tongue, but not so aggressive that it’s not drinkable. Really well crafted brew, one of sierra nevada’s better offerings.

Gonna crush with Jakebra and cellar a few. Lots goin on here. Now that is an aroma. Oooh yeah. Got some fruitiness and some awesomeness and maybe some smokiness. Flavor kicks some serious ass with a badass bitterness in the finish. Now that is a barley wine. Nice.

Bottle. Wow is this good! According to the packaging, this is the 25th "release" of Bigfoot Ale. Not sure if that means it’s 25 years old. Hoppy and sweet with big flavor and a fruity bouquet. Great with American staples like Pizza and burgers, but nothing sweet like BBQ. A great barley wine style beer (no, it’s not mead) to enjoy slowly. The beer has a deep, rich amber colour with a bitter finish.

Small foam but with almost 10 % alcohole this can be expected. Nice deep amber color. The alcohole dominating the aroma then some dried fruit. The bitterness dominates the taste eaven though the body is big.

12 oz 2009 bottle. Poured a clear dark amber color with red highlights and a three finger tan head. The aroma was malty, with vinous notes. The flavor was very well balanced, with a tremendous pine and citrus hop finish. This was an amazing beer. 2008 bottle. Poured a hazy brown with a thin tan head. Aroma of malt and dark fruit. Flavor is quite malty, but balanced out with hops. This is better in my opinion than most of Sierra Nevada’s offerings.

2008 bottle. I’ve been wanting to try a barleywine style ale for some time now and when i saw the local store had gotten in some cases, i bought a sixer. It pours a deep reddish brown with little to no head at all. The malt aroma knocked me out. It’s thick and chewy on the palate and again the malts are very overpowering, but the hop back is incredible. This is better slightly warmed up. While this is better than most brews i’ve had in my life, I can see that I’ll probably not go out of my way to drink barleywine style ales. I prefer more dryer and crisper brews. Still, this is a very tasty beverage.

2008 bottle from Total Wine in Roseville, CA. Not usually a big fan of Sierra Nevada, this one may have changed my mind. Just the right amount of hops to balance the malty goodness. Wish I had grabbed another one so I could age it.

Pours a slightly cloudy brownish-red with a small layer of foam with a complex malty aroma with hints of hops as well. Tastes rather astringent with lots of fresh hops and a nice bitter finish. Good carbonation, great body. I suspect this would be much more remarkable when properly aged - it was probably just a bit green when I had it. Hearty and drinkable, but I’ll definitely cellar the next one I find.