Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale '09 version. Fish approves...
Okay, this is a fan favorite at Beeradvocate, et al. This years version weighed in at 9.6%. My barleywine experience was limited to Stone's '08 offering which was over the top hopped like, "hi, here's a mouthful of weeds." But on Friday I went out to a place in Brea called Taps. I noticed cask ale on the menu so that's what I ordered. The waitress came back and all I could hear above the din was "blah blah blah brewmaster blah blah cask blah blah blah barleywine blah blah blah." I'm exceedingly easy to please so I say ship it.
The Taps barleywine was one of the best beers I've had. It was well balanced, oilier, and much darker that the BF you see above.
The BF is on the hoppy side and has a strong alcohol smell. It's probably not fair to compare it to a small batch, hand crafted brew or only two other BW's but w/e. Not nearly as thick as either the Stone or well balanced as the Taps BW.
The BF is a good beer and I'd def recommend it to anyone wanting to explore BW's or try something different, but I don't think it's best in class.
I'll give it
and keep exploring.