Today is the penultimate day for the Beer Advent Calendar, and it does double duty as well—it’s my birthday! As is my habit each year for my birthday I choose an Advent beer that’s more for “me” than strictly for the holidays, a special beer to enjoy that I think everyone else would too.

With that in mind, I’ve picked one of my all-time favorite Barleywines for the day: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. Sierra Nevada calls this their “cult-classic” and it really is: first introduced in 1983, Bigfoot largely introduced the Barleywine style to the American beer drinker, while at the same time inventing and defining the American version of the style.

And it has a simple recipe as well, which speaks to simply how great a brewer Sierra Nevada is: two-row and caramel malts, Chinook, Cascade and Centennial hops. And that’s it. It is open-fermented and comes in at 9.6% alcohol by volume, and is a great accompaniment to the holiday. Cheers!

Untappd. BeerAdvocate. RateBeer. Facebook.