Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale
I'm usually the first to say that I find Sierra products over-rated, the Pale is pretty tame and the Stout has weird sour flavors to my tongue. But this is a brew... Amber color, hazy with an impressive head of 1/2 inch. Smell is complex -- hop oil, candied fruit, residual slight sugarcane sweetness. Flavor is marvelously all over the map. Hoppy, peach and plum in brandy, and a finale of gravelly grapefruit citrus that could scour the sink. That the brew is very drinkable is testament to the malts even keeping up. Mouthcoating, mutating flavors, and a potential for mellowing over time -- what else do you need in a beer?