Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

Bottle. Pours a lovely dark reddish brown with a head that leaves nice layers on the glass. Smell is dark fruit molasses, brown sugar and caramel.Taste is similar, with a nice hint of alcohol. Goes down smoooooth.

2008 review: Looks cloudy with a mahogany color, lighter at the edges. Appears thick like prune juice. One finger of white head. Light passes through like primordial amber. The aroma is a very nice citrusy hop over a strong alcoholic ale smell. Hints of sweet (but not too sweet) liquors. Overall, it smells like a hoppy pale with something extra. The two distinct aromas create a tandem of strong, heavy flavor. The intial citrus/grapefruit taste is followed by a strong liqueur/grenadine flavor at the swallow. The pale malts emerge as it warms up, and the flavor becomes even more complex. It’s obviously chock-full of alcohol. The citrus really does come out the more it warms up. The flavors are uniformly extreme, but always in balance, which somehow makes it less extreme. There is a serious whiskey burn on the way down, and it’s very thick. Typical barleywine feel. Very strong and pumped full of flavor. The citrus and alcohol battle it out to a draw. One is plenty. ******* 2009 review: Call me crazy but this 2009 version seems a tad different from the 2008 version. Color: brick red and orange; nice fluffy head; rich and murky, tones of carbonation. A thin sheet of lace. Serious woody/resinous hop aroma. Underneath, a roasted, crusty malt. BItter and grainy in the nose, but with a harsh hop balance. Severe roasted grainy malt flavor; oily, pungent, woody hop. Hint of grapefruit and spicy cinnamon. Really strong; hefty ultra-dark malts overshadow those hops; major burnt cookie aftertaste. Gritty, thick feel; whiskey burn on the way down. A strong, smooth, intense, rich, murky sipper.

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.