Like Sasquatch in the wild, I am seen on this website only intermittently, and in very fuzzy photographs. But Sierra Nevada’s 25th Anniversary Bigfoot barleywine compelled me out of hiding and into your shaky viewfinder (delirium tremens, I’m guessing). And like both this beer and its namesake, I will haunt your dreams.

As you know, Sierra Nevada never makes bad beer. I really don’t know how they are so consistent, like I don’t know how mutton chops are not a constitutional requirement for voting, but boy, this beer socks it to ya. I’m pretty sure I got a hangover from just one of them.

Appearance: Pours a copper red-brown, with a moderately creamy, tan, one finger head.

Smell/Taste: Smells malty-sweet with only faint hops. Initial sweet, raisiny malt flavor and noticeable alcohol spice, followed by robust piney hops. The hops last a bit long on the palette for my personal taste, blotting out the dark fruit and malty sweetness, but individual tastes may vary (I, for one, prefer a slightly more subdued hop, like a Lagunitas IPA).

Overall: Clocking in at over 9% ABV and with its lingering pine, I’d be reluctant to drink more than one or two of these per four hour drinking-window, but I heartily recommend throwing a sixer of these in your fridge to bust out when it’s somehow raining and under 40 degress IN LOS FrUCKING ANGELES.

Excellent buy.