Audition Barrel-Aged Spiced Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

So earlier in the day (December 16, 2016) I am at the Torpedo Room and I try BA Ginger Bigfoot. I think its gonna suck. It doesn't suck. So then that night, I'm in Chico, and I see this. Looks like the same thing, but with cherries. I thought it sucked, relatively speaking compared to every other Bigfoot variation.

Pours the same, that hearty chesnut brown and crimson red from within, solid 1/2" off white head. Aroma yielded the malt, barrel and ginger. Nothing from the cherries yet.

Taste, ugh, this is where it gets rough. Whether the cherries or the beer itself, this got the bitterness pronounced but didn't really offer anything as to why. The barrel aged version isn't hoppy like the fresh base version. Frankly, there is just too much going on, with the bourbon, burnt sugar, the hops, the malt, the ginger, the cherries. . . at some point complexity just hits diminishing returns and the bell curve starts to slope downward.

The mouth feel reveals the same thing, its hot, strong, muddled, bitter and not particularly "flavorful" beyond those descriptors. The astringent tartness isn't a positive either, prolly cherry derived. Simply put, the worst Bigfoot I have ever had, by far. Love fresh Bigfoot, first and foremost.