Sierra Nevada Big Foot Barleywine
Sierra Nevada is lucky to have an array of quality beers and good distribution throughout the United States. One that deserves a good amount of praise is from their limited selections: Big Foot a barleywine style Ale. This 2008 edition pours with a very impressive tan head. Color is a nice dark red almost slightly brown. Aroma is grand, bitterness is present as well as sweet roasted malt, light fermented fruits are lightly detectable. Mouthfeel is medium, not too heavy. Flavor is very intense. Coming in at 9.6% ABV the level of hop bitterness in this barleywine is no surprise, what is however is how nicely the sweet malt compliments the flavor. Definitely a strong beer but it has many sweet notes on the palate as well as including less sweet, almost burnt roasted malt flavors. This is a very good example of a properly balanced barleywine, if you like strong beers and intense complex flavors this one is definitely worth your time trying. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Ah yes, the Bigfoot. When I played hockey this winter our games were on Saturday nights and afterwards I would be all wired up and I would stay up and watch Hockey Night In Canada till 1 or so drinking beer. One night I got this, drank the whole 6 pack. My god was I all fuzzy the next morning. It is out of stock right now but the best barley wine I have had is St. Paul’s own Flat Earth Brewery’s Winter Warlock. It is a english style barley wine which I guess is a very early recipe of it, one of the firsts. It is very gold in color and not as hoppy as the Bigfoot or other ones I’ve had. It is smooth and still strong. Very nice.
Oh, and there is this new liquor store called Sorella’s close to Grumpy’s on Washington Ave. It is street level store below a new high rise apt complex. They have close to their walk in cooler a small wooden rack with all these Belgian beers on it for cheap. The guy said he is trying to get rid of them because they do not sell, even though they do age, but I’ve been stopping by there once or twice a week to get a bottle and they are still there, I think I am the only one getting them. So I pass this secret stash on to you. Get ’em while you can.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Yea…that reminds me of the night I drank 7 (or was it 8 ) Bells Hopslams, and one PBR later at roller girls. Good times. Checked out Sorella, cool place, nice freezer with some good selections. Thanks for the suggestion, ended up getting a few of their discount beers and an Imperial IPA I’m excited to try and review. Apparently they’re having a tasting on August 9th, will have to check that out as well.