Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2012

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from a six-pack, bought at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: American Barleywine, 9.6%

 

Tonight I'm popping this blog's Barleywine cherry with Sierra Nevada's 2012 Bigfoot Ale. 

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010.

Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot was one of the first Barleywines to show up in the American craft beer scene. According to Wikipedia, the Barleywine style originated in England. Anchor Brewing Company first introduced the style to the United States in 1976 with their Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale. The BJCP distinguishes between two styles of Barleywine: English and American. They also have a third Strong Ale category, "Old Ales," which some people suggest are the same as Barleywines. Barleywines are giant beers, pushing an ABV envelope of 8% to 12%. These things are also super hoppy, with IBUs ranging from 50 to 120. These beers are supposed to be super malty with a malt sweetness, fruity characters, and lots of hops. The BJCP lists the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot as a defining example of the style.

And indeed, the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot has won a number of medals, as you can see from the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot page. This beer is described as having a fruity bouquet, an intense flavor palate, and a deep reddish-brown color. The beer is clocking in at 9.6% ABV and pushing 90 IBUs. The beer is brewed with pale and caramel malts and Cascade (flowery, spicy, grapefruit), Centennial (floral, citrus), and Chinook (spicy, piney, grapefruit) hops; and then dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook hops. With all that said, let's get this into a glass.
 

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2012

The beer pours a dark, dark red color in low light, with 1-finger of thick, bready, slightly red/tan head. When held to bright light, this is a darker reddish/orange beer, with a murky center. The head has this reddish/orange tint, and a decent amount of head is hanging around producing a nice cauldron effect. I'd say a centimeter of head is persisting, with a couple of bubbles settling towards the middle. At 9.6% ABV, you do see some alcohol legs sticking to the glass as you let the beer swirl around. I'm seeing a lot of small carbonation bubbles rising up from the middle towards the beer's surface.

This is a big beer with a big aroma. I'm getting a lot of huge malts on this, including toffee, banana bread, and caramel. The malt aromas are sweet, and huge. There are also some alcohol esters on the nose; fruitiness, elusive dark fruits, and I'm even getting a hint of twizzler. There's a huge hop undertone driving the nose, with these giant tangerine and orange esters. I smell some sticky/pungent pine as well. I get a hint of wood/grain when I swirl the beer as well.

The taste: big, bold, thick, chewy, delicious. This is definitely more of a bitter beer than a malty beer, but there is this HUGE malt presence. It's like someone poured a Wee Heavy into a Double IPA. Up front I'm getting giant toffee notes; I'm tasting huge bitterness in the back, with notes of pine, grapefruit rind, and bitter orange. The malts up front are sweet: caramel, toffee, maple/pancake syrup, banana bread..and then you get some earthy grain, and then BAM. Hop bitterness in your face. The finish is dry hoppiness, with lingering malts; grain, toffee. This is by no means a balanced beer, but the GIANT hop and malt profiles work well together.

The Infamous "Cauldron Effect"

This is a thick-freaky beer. Full-bodied, thick, chewy, bitter, malty, sugary...at 9.6% ABV, this is a beer that is meant to be mulled over. The first bottle I had of this I drank over the course of two hours. It was wonderful. This has moderate or maybe even high carbonation, but it is hard to tell with the huge thickness of the beer and the bitter/dry finish. Palate depth is huge, complexity is high. Up front are malts, followed by grains; the grains lead to a hoppy middle; the finish is lingering grains, and hop bitterness. The lingering feel is dry, with some warming from the 9.6%.

 

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew rating on this beer. This is just a spectacular beer. Everything this beer brings to the table is a wonderful assault on your palate. From the giant malt notes, the elusive dark fruits, the banana bread, the maple syrup, the giant hop flavors...this is an impressive beer, and something you can slowly enjoy over the course of an evening. Or, you know, you can pound this shit back like a champion. Whatever gets you off. The point is, this is a steal. Especially since a 6-pack of this shit is reasonably priced (somewhere around 9 to 12 bucks?). One last note: you can age a Barleywine for who knows how long. I've heard you can age this style for 15+ years. So definitely keep that in mind (and maybe buy two 6-packs), so you can throw some in the cellar for down the road. Until next time, don't drink and hunt Bigfoot.