Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale 2012 edition

This is one of those 'celebrity' beers, which are immediately tweeted about by their beer purveyors on entering stock, and then sell out almost instantly. The bandwagon was mounted, and the wallet emptied.

It's also the first barleywine on record.. 9.6% and daarrrrkk pour out of the bottle. Looks like a heavy rye or something at first glance. There's slight carbonation but not intrusive, and a nice lingering fluffy head.

Wow, this is a riot of flavours. There's orange there, stringent bitterness throughout, and heavy malt disguising the alcohol, which really doesn't manage to make its presence felt in aroma or taste. Heaps going on throughout the mouthful including pine and slight honey (?) but it's not hard to drink at all.. certainly not compared to most other things at this sort of range. Even appreciate the oily sort of mouthfeel, it's just right. Really enjoyed this a lot and recommend to anyone coming into winter time, if only to give you a break from all those excellent stouts and porters.

Not sure specifically if it's this beer, or the style that I'm digging but regardless this is a very pleasant way to imbibe nearly 3 standard drinks to the bottle. Looking forward to cellaring a couple and charting the improvement (or otherwise) also. If they last that long. 8.5