Brewers Notes: Bigfoot is a beast of a beer, brimming with bold flavors of bittersweet malt and heaps of aggressive whole-cone Pacific Northwest hops. First introduced in the winter of 1983, Bigfoot is a cult-classic beer brewed in the barleywine style, meaning a strong, robust, bruiser of a beer with the refined intensity of a wine. Bigfoot is prized by beer collectors for its supreme cellarability. Under the proper conditions, it can age like a fine wine, developing new flavors and character as it matures in the bottle. Each new release or “expedition” is vintage dated. Collect your own and see the flavors develop and progress.
Tasting Notes
Nov. 2023: I drank a ten-year old 2013 vintage with pumpkin cake from Shindiz. The pairing was great. The beer still had robust flavors and the hops had mellowed some. I noticed a nice chocolate flavor coming forward. Yummy!
August 2023: I drank a 2023 vintage with Jen's Chocolate Cake at the conclusion of dinner to celebrate my 71st birthday. The beer continues to amaze me. What I noticed was the fantastic lacing clinging to the glass as it emptied. I revisited my review to see if I rated it 6.5 or 7 glasses. The flavor, color, and lacing merit 7.
Feb. 2022: The first 1.5 bottles of 12. Alex got the other 0.5. May not be as sweet as last years but it has hops galore. A flavor bomb. I plan to purchase another 6-pack.
July 5, 2020: Bigfoot is the classic American Barleywine. It is a flavor bomb - tons of sweet malt and tons of bitter hops. It ages fantastically and my "cellar' has bottles dates 2006. It has been a favorite of mine for years. It goes great with carrot cake and other sweet desserts. My understanding is the "Barleywine-style" in the title arose because the ABC folks feared that buyers would confuse it with wine if the SN called it simply "Barleywine".
Rating = 7 glasses.
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