Hair of the Dog Adam

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Traditional Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

Adrian was kind enough to split this wonderful brew with me, though I think he poured more into his glass and was constantly trying to steal mine. But back to the beer rating. This beer pours a dark brown colour with a beige head. The aroma is worthy of a lingering sniff, perhaps several. The aroma is of chocolate, oak(?), molasses, alcohol, darks fruits, malts, and hops. Great smooth and creamy flavour of dark fruits, dark chocolate, malts, wheat and hops. It truly is a great dessert beer. I paired it with apple pie. Yummy!

Location: 12 oz bottle via trade with NickD717, 11/20/09 (Batch 73)

Aroma: Interesting nose, that includes notes of chocolate, smoke, roasted malts, alcohol, and dark fruits (plum)
Appearance: Pours a dark brown color with a large beige head that leaves a lot of lace on the glass
Flavor: Taste is also quite nice, much of the same notes that are prevalent in the nose exist in the flavor as well, it is medium sweet, malty, and has a long bitter finish
Palate: The body is pretty full, some ABV is present, but beer is quite smooth for a beer of this magnitude
Overall Impression: I found this beer to be pretty enjoyable overall. I was impressed by pretty much the whole thing from start to finish. A nice nose, a really nice flavor, a nice look, and a nice palate. Just a great beer all the way around. Really well done, so far, I’ve enjoyed the couple of things I’ve tried from HotD, and I look forward to trying more stuff from them. Thanks for hooking me up with this one Nick!

Batch 74. Big Beer! Extremely dark brown and red in color. Has a very appealing nose of sweetness, oak and smokiness. The body is medium but finishes surprisingly light in the mouth. I’m not a big fan of tasting smokiness in my beer, and it’s definitely there with hints of currents. What’s nice is as it warms the smoke departs a bit and the alcohol presence takes over a bit more. Ends up leaving a very nice sweetness in the aftertaste. I would recommend drinking most of this beer as it warms.

BATCH NUMBER 71 Very dark brown with golden amber highlights. Nice creamy head of tan foam. Quite good retention and very good lacing. Man, that is some dark fruit overload in that glass. Huge notes of black cherries, figs, raisins, and black currants. Slight touch of raspberries and bananas. Huge sweet malty profile. Big sweet caramel presence. Good balanced level of sweetbreads. Very slight booziness, also. Big sweet caramel presence. Slight boozy warmth. Notes of mellow spices mixed with molasses and drizzled on top of big dark fruit. Slight hint of dark chocolate covered coffee beans and tobacco, in the finish. Nice full bodied brew. Very creamy and smooth. Aside from the warming factor, the alcohol is fairly well-hidden in this one. As far as the flavor goes, anyway. This is quite drinkable and I wish I had access to many more.

Batch 75. Thick smokey and winey aroma, beautiful pour, dense head which quickly dissipates to a thin cream coloured lingering head. This is a very dark beer, brownish red with lots of sediment. Very richly alcoholic in character, a little bit overwhelming at first although you ease into it nicely. EXTREMELY COMPLEX. Smoky, earthy, molasses, and a little bit of fruitiness? Tastes half way between a doppelbock and a quadrupel almost. Bizarre beer. Chocolate notes in the aftertaste, wow, this one is intense. Very sweet, extremely complex flavour and wonderful mouthfeel. This beer does not exactly cater to my personal tastes in beer but it is still a wonderfully constructed brew. In the future I would love to drink more of it, but I would prefer to split the bottle because nearing the end of my glass I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Regardless, worth trying for anyone who likes strong and heavy beers.

3rd June 2008. Label says ’chocolate, smoke and fig’ - good description! The chocolate is malty and the smoke pleasingly subdued. Bit of a shock on the first mouthfull but quickly becomes very quaffable.

12 oz. Batch 74 Pours dark with a dark brown head. Nose is figs, raisins, port, and chocolate. Taste is plum, brown sugar, chocolate, alcohol, and a nice smoke. The palate is oily and thick. Amazing brew. Everything Alan makes i amazing. Thanks again!

Batch no.72 bottle courtesy of and shared with ogivlado (huge thanks!)
Poured a very dark, almost black body tinged with red. A very thick beige head that lasted looong. The nose is a battle between dried figs and dried meat on a malty battlefield with some soy sauce and alcohol being flung around at times. Started of nice, got kinda odd/ugly later on, but still fun. A sweet taste with distinct notes of dried meat and ash, some nice underlying maltiness, sweet. Dried figs show up again near the end possibly winning the day, even if the smokey taste is nice by itself. A great and interesting beer, one of the best smoked beers I’ve had I guess.