Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale (2012)
Limited Selection (Winter)
12 fl. oz. (x6) / $13.99 USD / 9.6% ABV
About: "Our award-winning barleywine boasts a dense, fruity bouquet, an intense flavor palate and a deep reddish-brown color. Its big maltiness is superbly balanced by a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness. Yeast: Ale Yeast. Bittering Hops: Chinook. Finishing Hops: Cascade and Centennial. Dry Hopping: Cascade, Centennial and Chinook. Malts: Two-row Pale and English Caramel."
Thoughts: Bigfoot and Jason hangin' in the woods together? Seems plausible. Bigfoot poured a deep amber orange out of the bottle, a beautiful color, with a huge puffy one-and-a-half finger bone-white head that wasn't so eager to retreat back into the woods. Once the head died down it left little clumps that I lapped up just for fun.
Smells of beautiful hops at first whiff. It smells like candy to me. It's very reminiscent of their classic Sierra Nevada scent, only seemingly candy coated. There's a hint of caramel in there, but it's laying low.
The taste is quite simply put, Incredible. The sweetness hit me first with a zing and afterwards a warm yeasty bread taste slowly expanded. During the swallow I got a little bit of citrus, and afterwards, a mildly intense hop bitterness stuck on the back of my tongue.
Mouth feel is thick and coating.
Compared to some of the other (and my favorite) barleywine(s), this one is a really hop heavy. Not that that's a bad thing of course! I love it, and it's always great to have options when it comes to my favorite style. This isn't my absolute favorite barleywine, but man is it good. When I started doing these beer reviews it was great fun, but it's beers like this which make me wish I could have reviewed a few of them years ago since the tastes are ever changing. It's great going back and trying these beers again from Sierra Nevada. I used to buy them on a semi-regular basis many years ago and don't know why I've been depriving myself lately. No more.
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5 comments:
Bigfoot is awesome. I love SN's hoppy West Coast take on the barleywine style. I haven't had any this year... not sure what's wrong with me. I'll probably grab a 6 pack and put a few bottles away to age.
So what's your favorite barleywine(s)?
Thanks to your post, I finally got off my ass and bought some Bigfoot. I think I'll drink 2 and age the other 4. I made a list of my cellar inventory and realized that I don't have any barleywine. Bigfoot should make a nice addition.
And speaking of Sierra, check out Torpedo in a can if you get a chance. It's pretty god damn delicious. The first sip you get hit with the flavor of fresh hops... amazing. I haven't tried Pale Ale yet in the can, but I hear it's even better than Torpedo. I've only seen it in 12 packs, but as soon as I come across a 6 or singles I'll give it a shot.
I think my favorite barleywines have to be Southern Tier's Backburner, Weyerbacher's Blithering Idiot and Berkshire's Holidale. Bigfoot would come in at fourth thus far.
I don't think I've ever had a barleywine that I didn't enjoy. I just got a review ready for Stone's Old Guardian Belgo which has Belgian yeast in it so that was interesting... and with Sierra Nevada, I always love the hops.
I haven't had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in about, maybe fuckin', three or four years. I really don't know what the hell is wrong with me. It was the first Pale Ale that I ever drank too.
As far a barleywines go, some of my favorites are Victory's Old Horizontal, Brooklyn's Monster and Anchor's Old Foghorn. I also love Bigfoot, because it's so hoppy and crazy for a barleywine. Blithering Idiot is OK, but doesn't have the depth of flavor that some other barleywines I've tried have. I haven't tried Backburner yet, but I do like Southern Tier. I'll have to pick it up when I see it.
Well I really wanted to try Idiots Drool, but that'll probably never happen. Haven't had Old Horizontal, or Monster but I'll seek those ones out now.
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