Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine (2009 batch)

So when I first started this blog my intent was to provide a variety of literature, but ya know, shit happens. So here's part of that variety I was talking about. Hey, we all love beer and we should all love this beer!

2009 was the year I believe that Sierra Nevada made a tweak or two to Bigfoot's recipe. Up until this batch Bigfoot was a hop bomb. It was one of the beers that established a West Coast style. There was a presence of malt, but not enough to keep up with the hop overload. Polar opposites, but the hops always came out on top. In 2009 they boosted up the malt to mellow out the hop bite. Still big, still unforgiving to the pallet. It's 2011, let's see how this vintage holds up.

It pours a copper-reddish hue with a creamy, tan head. The head fades away after letting the beer sit for a few minutes, but leaves a nice dirty line of lacing around glass. Heavy hop aroma. Lots of grapefruit and citrus rind. Hints of vanilla frosting. A little, tiny bit of earthy notes. Lots of alcohol warmth. I don't find many beers at 9.6% alcohol to be this hot from alcohol.

The first sip is smooth, almost creamy, until the hops break down the door. Two and a years aged and this beer still puts up a fight! These's hops don't die, they just mellow out a bunch. Thick texture. No real intense opening notes. This beer lets you slide into the flavor before the hoppy finish kicks you on the way out, and leaves you with a bitter feeling in your mouth. Any really presence of malt is certainly not sweet. Letting this baby get some air brings some sweet flavors (hints of honey) to the front, but they don't seem to last long. The hops engulf anything that isn't hopped already. I could be easily mistaking this flavor for the hops. Maybe they didn't even change the recipe and my hop tolerance (more distinctly my West Coast style hop tolerance) has gone up and I just didn't think it was too hoppy. Bigfoot is a hop beast. This 2009 vintage as shown signs of significant mellowing, but it won't go down quiety.