Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

Bottle. Rich hops aroma mixed with plums and chocolate. Redbrown colour with beige head. Intense bittersweet hops flavour with a touch of dark chocolate, wood and nuts. Lon lasting bitter aftertaste.

WOW! One of my first good Barley Wines and this one lives up to the hype. Pour is ruby red with a fluffy tan head. Looks like American Strong Ale. Aroma is fruity, hoppy, malty, with a hint of booze. Flavor has amazing balance. Strong hop and citrus flavors, some bitter pine, all perfectly balanced with sweet caramel malt. Not detecting the 9.6% abv. Bitter finish of an Imperial IPA. BE CAREFUL! This stuff is strong, drinkable and will put you on your butt!

2009 bottle from grape and gourmet poured into a tulip pint. pours a very dark amber nearly ruby color with a thin beige head and great lacing. aroma is fresh, spicy hops with fruit notes of grapefruit and orange and big pine notes. some sweet, syrupy, dark malt notes also peak through in the aroma. flavor truly made me feel like i was drinking a DIPA. hoppy spiciness dominates initially with big citrus and pine. a big malt presence with flavors of molasses and brown sugar add depth and balance out the high %abv. mouthfeel is full bodied, slightly syrupy, but extremely smooth with high carbonation since it’s fresh and nice alcohol warmth on the swallow. a damn good american barley wine that is drinking like a DIPA right now. can’t wait to taste it at 6 months.

smells very piney, looks amazing rich and reddish. perfect balance between raging malt and raging hops. can;t really taste too much booze, amazing hop aftertaste.

Pours a lite brown/ dark amber color with a white forming head. Good smell of hops and fruitiful malts. English Ale taste. Good taste of malts and slite hops. Good overall barley wine. Stong.

bottle. very fruity nose. lots of sweetness, with an almost syrupy body. definitely could taste the alcohol in this one. a ood hop/mal balance- pretty tasty.

Bottled. Rating compiled over many, many different vintage tastings. So far, I have tried 1998, 2000 & 2002. This beer ages very well over time, with the alcohol toning down quite a bit and developing mature vinous berry flavors that mix readily with notes of brown sugar. Aroma is a pleasant blend of apricot, grape and cherry, with the older bottles having less Cascade hops influence. Some bottles have a slight hint of wet cardboard oxidation. Overall, each vintage lends its own bit of character depending on age. Guaranteed a good drinking experience between each year.

Thought I was having a DIPA. Wonderfully hoppy with fruity aromas/flavors and a dry finish. Best DIPA...err...Barley Wine I’ve had in a long time.