Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

Pours a dark, cloudy amber-brown color with medium head, which dissipates quicky. Thin to no lacing left behind - bubbly. First impression of aroma is of hops (hey - go figure, it’s Sierra Nevada!), slight malt and alcohol. Flavor goes straight to the back of the throat, then crawls its way up the toungue, with a sweet hoppiness falling along the edges leaving behind alcoholic fumes. Cascade hops are prominent with every sip. Somewhat alcoholic mouthfeel/aftertaste, but sweet. I wish more beers were this entertaining.

With a name like this I’m not quite sure if the beer will be a thunderously beastly drink, or a laughably hard-to-find one, flavors mere rumors of their purported legendary status. The pour from this squatty bottle lures up a thick white head, and beneath that a very cloudy dark brown ale with rusty brown hues around the edge of the glass. Charmingly rustic, if not the official colors of mountain wildlife. Hops, well kilned malts, soy sauce and an extreme dryness greet the nose with a forward punch, with the taste even drier. I mean, really, really dry, save for a wallop of booziness and an extremely drying ethanol aftertaste. We’re talking all out bleached bones in Death Valley desiccation, focused entirely on the back of my throat. I finish the beer, but find even breathing, with its rasping, rattling constancy to be a bother after finishing a dose of this beefy brew. I’ve lost 90% of my mucous membranes and my esophagus is ready to peel like tree bark, but for all that it was still a solid drink, if heavy on the alcohol.

355ml Bottle (Olutkellari,Helsinki)- Dark brown with tinges of red. Hoppy aroma with grapefruit, raisins and peaches. Very hoppy taste with a pleasant bitterness. Fruit also features in the taste with some raisins and grapefruit being detected again. Not bad but too easy to drink for this strength and not enough malty elements which is what I am used to with this style.

[’01 Bottle, thanks Guerde!] Pours hazy red-amber with a small, lingering tan head. Aroma is strawberry jam, a little alcohol, and caramel. Taste is quite sweet (fruity sweetness) up front, then alcohol, light bitterness, and a good deal of malt. Medium-thin mouthfeel with an average, slightly dry finish where a lot of malt and the bitterness is detectable. A very pleasant barley wine.

Bottle. Minimal blond beige head with some lacing. Hazy amber liquid. Very malty and hoppy aroma. Sweet date-like fruits. Plenty of resinous dry hops. Alcohol is present but not very strongly. Rich malty flavor is medium sweet. Finish is dryer with bitteration. Syrup-like texture leaves lips sticky. Full bodied and low carbonation. Very long and bitter finish with some alcohol burning. Delicious beer that replaces whole meal. Storng but quite straightforward aromas.

12 oz bottle. Pours a dark, clear brown body with no head. The aroma is spicy, with some hops, alcohol and caramel. The flavor is slightly bitter, alcohol with malty undertones.

I took a whiff and smiled at the familiar sierra nevada aromas of pine needles and resinous hops, I can’t actually get enough of the aroma. There are also I think raisins under the hops somewhere. There is a definite woodyness to the what the malt and alcohol has done to my tongue which actually goes beautifully with the scenty, powerful hops, not to mention the sweetness which has been managed very well indeed. A beer this strong would have an excuse for leaving that spirit like after taste but it’s hardly there. Very well crafted indeed.

Whoa. Bottle from Capitol in Concord. Pours deep red-gold, with yellow-tinged off white crown that dissipates slowly. Aroma is a full frontal of piney hops, berries, sweet candy...almost floral. First taste is juice-like sweetness, followed quickly by a wallop of pine needle hop explosion. Almost harsh bitterness, but it is tempered well by a smooth malt character. An excellent example of the style, but perhaps a bit too much for a simple porter man like myself.