Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

350 ml bottle. 2009 version. Finland. Clear reddish colour with medium-size head. Dry fruity floral hoppy aroma with some sweetness combined. Flavour is very dry hoppy with caramel sweetness and alcohol. Stabile. Bitter aftertaste. Quite demanding.

2009 bottle into snifter. Pours an unfiltered dark reddish copper with an inch or so of super frothy, chunky as ever beige head that sits like a slab of concrete, eroding away slowly and leaving sheets of lace so thick, you could write your name in them. The aroma on this number is awesome. Loads of oaky English caramel malt, and floral and slightly fruity PNW hops. The flavor is a rush of sweet caramel malt quickly overcome by an army of hop demons. Floral hops especially, ransack the malt and coat the mouth with oily, piney, resinous, alpha acids. Lots of IBUs here, with the malt as sweet as it is, I’d guess it’s in the 120 range. Rich sugary palate is also very oily and sticky. A hop heads dream beer.

2009 bottle from BevMo... Pours orange brown with a creamy tan head... Aroma is caramel hops and alcohol.. Flavor has a nice hoppy bite with caramel sweetness.. Full body and smooth carbonation.

I’ve had this before a few times. Rating from a 12oz bottle. murky orange brown pour with a small tan head that leaves a thin layer and some sudsy stick. aroma of sweet malt, caramel and spicy hops. good chewy medium texture. the grassy bitter hops take over the taste and never really let go. there is some alcohol burn and caramel malt sweetness in there - but this is all about the bitter hops. not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It"s hard to rate this beer, because it differs drastically from year to year. this years (2009) i would give a score of about 4.0, but the 2008 vintage was far superior which i would have given a 4.8. So i just kind of averaged my imperssion of all combined over the years.Bigfoot is not for the light drinker. It starts out harsh, but mellows as it warms. Age this beer, it only gets better.

Quite a beer is this! It started with a foamy tan head, two fingers deep, above a clear body of dark orange. So far, we’re looking good. Minutes after the pour, perhaps as many as five, we’ve still got a finger’s worth of head along with some really good lacing. Aroma was perahps spices and lighter fruit notes. The taste was much the same as the aroma, along with some adult-strength hopping to give a bitter finish. Mouthfeel was big and rich. Truly one damned good beer.

Taster at Seattle International Beer Festival. Red brown with some lacing. Smells better than it tastes, a nice blend of caramel and peppery hops. The flavor doesn’t blend quite as well, as bitter hops overwhelm the malts, and pepper hops linger.

Original review date 2/18/2008... 2008 vintage from 12 oz. bottle into BMS mug. Good 3-finger head dissipates a little quickly. Nice light red-brick color. Enticing stuff. Very strong floral hop aroma is a little soapy at first blush but otherwise very powerful and pleasant. Deep hop backbone - more like a DIPA than a barley wine in a way. Malt and alcohol are in the background. Very very hoppy for a BW but well-balanced. After a while the malt opens up nicely, but this is a "pucker" on the mouth from the big hop profile. The extra-abundant hop presence makes this a bit for drinkable for a barley wine. Solid stuff.