Sierra Nevada - BigFoot Barleywine Style Ale

So, Friday night, Charlie and I went on a late night beer run to supplement our dwindling beer supply and to pick up something for the girls. After leaving the Beer Cave, I noticed the six pack you can see above you. It had been awhile since I've had any "good" beer and so I picked up this $11.00 six pack and dropped it into the cart. The real selling point was that this beer was a barleywine. A barleywine is a high gravity, high alcohol content beer and I'd never had one before and always wanted to try one.

Sierra Nevada BigFoot Ale is made, like I said, in the barleywine style. 2009 is its 25th year of production. BigFoot Ale has won 8 awards over the years in barleywine, ale, strong ale categories. The 2009 has 9.6% alcohol by volume and you can defintily tell. It's strong. Here's a brief rating. It's been awhile since I've had to think about the dynamics of the beer I'm drinking, so it's not great...but enjoy.




Appearance: Head starts out thick (depending on the pour) and falls to thin, tan head. Mid-range rusty brown. Looks delicious. Very appealing.
Aroma: Fairly strong Cascade hop aroma. To me this literally "smells like a Sierra Nevada". Cascade hops have a very distinct smell, and I've come to associate it with the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Sweet smelling. A little malty?
Palate: Heavy consistency. Almost feels like a lighter stout. Medium-high carbonation.
Flavor: Initially, very sweet-tasting. Very strong Cascade flavor - finishes like a Sierra Nevada beer. I'm not getting a whole lot of malt, but my tasting skills could be hindered by months of drinking Bud Light at football games. If it's there, it's being masked by the Cascade hops, which makes sense - you've got to hide the alcohol behind something in a barley wine. The Cascade might be just a little too over-powering, but I actually like it.
Overall: I'm a big fan out of this beer - after months of American pilsners (with few a decent beers here and there...mostly my home brew), this beer is simply a relief. The only problem I have with this beer is the flavor could be a bit more complex. I don't really have any other barley wines I can compare this with, but overall I like it. The alcohol is definitly BIG in this beer. I can feel it after making it through my first glass. At 11.00$ a pop, it's on the expensive side for a six pack, but definitley worth it (really, it's more like getting a 12 pack if you think about it).

Final Grade: A-

Here are some more facts about BigFoot Ale from Sierra Nevada's website:

alcohol content 9.6% by volume	bittering hops Chinook
beginning gravity 23.0 Plato	finishing hops Cascade & Centennial
ending gravity 6.0 Plato	dry hopping Cascade, Centennial & Chinook
bitterness units 90	malts Two-row Pale & English Caramel
yeast Top-fermenting Ale Yeast

Stephen King vs. Stephanie Meyer

I'm a big fan of Stephen King and earlier in the week I found a few articles about his comments on Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, during an interview with USA Today. He draws similarities between her and J.K. Rowlings, both of whom are very popular and whose books target a younger demographic, but quickly separates the two, citing "the real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good." He later goes onto comment:

...in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.

I love Stephen King for this - he's blunt and precise in his criticism. This whole interview was posted on a USA Today blog way back on February 2nd, so there's been ample time for die hard Twilight fans to throw their ill-crafted and unsound arguments at Stephen King's interview.

I won't go into great detail about them, but here's one that reflects the backbone of the Meyer Camp's argument:

Mr. King,
I think its time to harvest those sour grapes. You shouldn't feel threatened that a female author is outselling you by leaps and bounds. You should praise her for getting people into a book store to buy something besides $4 coffee.*

Meyer supporters often mistake King's criticisms for jealously, when in fact he's merely commenting on her writing ability. He has a degree in English, was a writing teacher, has published a writing guide called On Writing (ironically enough), and is a generally respected author in the writing community. I would say he is qualified enough to give, at the very least, a decent analysis of his peer's writing. Lastly, I'd point out that King has sold somewhere from 300 million to 350 million books in his career, while Stephanie Meyer has sold a meager, in comparison, 40 million books. King's comments were not made out of jealously at all, he was simply making remarks on the quality of her writing.


Go over to the original USA Today blog and read some of the comments - some of them are hilarious.

Family Guy vs. Hannity and Colmes

via videosift.com

I hate Fox News. It's bollocks and I love Family Guy for this quip on the lack of balance on Hanitty and Colmes...

*Edit* Fox took down the video clip :(

Back to the beginning...

So, I cite The Decemberists as THE band that started me down the "Indie Rock" path and I quickly moved on to other bands and quietly forgot about them...but they just made their way back into my life. Scott just turned me on to one of their new singles, "The Wanting Comes In Waves". Simply put, it's awesome. It starts out very "Decemberist" like but quickly turns to something reminiscent of the White Stripes once the female lyrist comes in. I can't stop listening to it - check it out.

The Decemberists - "The Wanting Comes In Waves"