Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

Bottle into red wine glass. 2009, and super fresh. Pours a slightly hazy copper-brown, a bit on the red side, with a fluffy off-white head that doesn’t last too long. Nose is piney and resiny, with a citrus and caramel coming on strong as well. Hops come through just a bit green, wonderfully fresh smelling. Some alcohol heat coming through too. Taste is full and rich up front, with sweet, toasty caramel malt sitting underneath a blanket of green, resiny pine bitterness, with rich, sweet citrus where the two aspects meet. Finish is long, lightly bitter, and toasty. Mouthfeel is smooth, syrupy, and with a light underlying carbonation that perks this slow sipper up just enough. For what it is, this beer is dangerously quaffable. The alcohol is subtle and doesn’t slow you down a bit, and the freshness makes for an unbelievably balanced brew.

On tap-2007 keg @ Stateline-Deep amber/cooper colored w/a moderate head & good lacing. Deep malt aroma. Sweet flavors of roasted malt, caramel, toffee, & maybe a touch of molasses or honey. Has a nice bitter finish w/a hop backbone. Full mouthfeel w/a long finish. I have never really been a fan of the few things I’ve had f/ this brewer & I have never liked SNPA, although I’ve never bothered to rate it as so. In my preRateBeer days I always found it too one dimensional & hoppy (it actually kept me from trying other Micro’s for quite a while) but I found this to be quite enjoyable-I have a 2007 bottle I’ve never gotten around to, maybe I need to give it a shot.

Pours gorgeous bronzy deep red with thick ivory head. Thick creamy mouthfeel with taste of alcohol and malt caramel toffee flavors and endnote of piney hop bitterness. Nose is the same. Absolute heaven!

Dark amber pour with a big off-white head. Aroma is a little malty, spicy, and decent hops. Flavor is very smooth, hoppy, spicy, and a little sweet. The high ABV is well hidden and it’s very easy to drink. Outstanding beer.

Pours darker amber with a frothy tan head. Strong aromas of sweet citrus hops, pine, caramel. Flavors of piney hops upfront. Semi sweet. Very bitter. Good lacing. Alcohol tends to overwhelm the other flavors here. But if you try hard enough will notice a little caramel, and citrusy hops. Tastes much like an IPA except for the alcohol. After a few sips the alcoholic taste seems to disipate, and the IPA side comes out more. Very nice all around.

Aroma is densely exquisite, hops shine through and through! Pours a deep reddish brown color with a nice, sticking, off white head. Flavor is also very good, an intense maltiness balanced well with the bitter bite of hops. This beer is intense. Huge on the palate, this one is bound to grab your attention! Great stuff!

Pours a beautiful dark hazy amber color with a fluffy offwhite, light orange head. A very pretty beer. It has a hoppy nose with notes of caramel, toffee, bourbon, bitter grapefruit and orange peel. The taste is powerful hoppy flavors with caramel, toffee sweetness and an alcohol edge. Bourbon in particular. This is a strong beer with a moderately thick body and big flavors. Its a bit off balance when cold, but as it nears room temperature, it mellows out nicely. I bet it ages well too. Pretty accessable, tasty barleywine. Sierra Nevada always does a good job of representing their respective styles well. It also gets higher scores for being very reasonably priced for how good a beer it is.

Strong IPA taste. Strong taste of hops remain. The aftertaste lingers for quite awhile.