Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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

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.

a mouthful of flavor. bitter, sweet, the taste makes you feel you need to chew, ripe fruits and malt. Some bitterness (hop?).

So for my 2000th rating I decided to choose a beer that has been rated so many times that I didn’t have to say how it tasted and what it looked like. Instead I figured I would write an excerpt. I have enjoyed drinking these 2000 beers. I would like to thank the Seattle Crew for sharing many a fine beer with me, even though most of those are backlogged and won’t be added for months. I would like to thank all the traders I have traded with for sharing the love. I drank this while watching the UFC fight last night, sipping this fine libation while Michito (sp?) put Thiago Silva to sleep. What a knockout! What followed the fight was a nice night of drunkeness at the Tin Hat on 65th, and a monster hangover in the morning. That being said, this was a fantastic beer and I really enjoyed its malt, hops, and aroma. Here’s to a thousand more.

Clear brownish garnet, one-finger head with a solid film covering and terrific lacing. Deep flowery hops aroma with a bit of grapefruit and a strong malt backbone. Unique taste in that the strength of the hops is met by a caramel maltiness just as strong. A big beer in flavor, body and alcohol, which is not hidden but adds to the complexity. Not for the faint of heart.