Hair of the Dog Bourbon Fred from the Wood

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter

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Sampled from 12-oz bottle and shared by Dudeski. Pours a hazy amber colored brew with a fast disappearing off-white head that leaves no lacing nor any film top. Aroma of bourbon, tropical fruit, hint of vanilla and apple cider. Taste is medium bodied, plenty of bourbon flavors with vanilla, caramel malt and tart apple. Bourbon flavor profile is well-present throughout.

Thanks amtran87! Amazing beer! Its sweet and boozy and woody and wonderful. One of my favorite barrel aged beers ever.

Poured from 12oz bottle. Pours like unfiltered apple cider, murky with no head whatsoever. This beer is flat. Aroma is bourbon, rye, apple and just a hint of vanilla. Taste is sweet, some fruit and bourbon. A really tasty beer, I just wish it had some carbonation.

12oz bottle. Medium maple pour with no head to speak of. Nose of a great BABW with tons of toffee, caramel, vanilla, and mild hops. Taste follows with an uber sweet malty overtone and a slight retention of the original hop profile. Otherwise it is almost a totally different beer than the non BA version. Unfortunately though, the lack of almost any carbonation really keeps this from being phenomenal.

Served from a 12 oz bottle from OTM. The appearance is a cloudy red hued brown. No head to speak of. Sweet sweet aromas, buttery, bourbon, toffee, barrel char, pineapple, booze, and a touch of celery. The flavors are very good. Bourbon flavors but a little different then most bourbon barrel beers. A nice almond flavor on the entry. This bounces between vanilla and almond a few times. An early finish spiced oak that leads to pineapple and tropical fruits in the aftertaste. After some swirling the barrel chard, oaky characters really pull through. There is some apple juice in there as well. The mouth is a bit too still. I don’t know a lot about this brew but I wonder if the bottle condition just needed some more time. The stillness does reduce the enjoyment of the brew a decent amount but the flavors and aromas are so good and complex that it can survive. The spice from the barrel almost feels like some carbonation. These flavors are phenomenal a touch of carbonation would make this so much more... I am thinking about getting another bottle and hoping for the bottle condition to take over.

12 oz bottle shared by Kan. Thanks, man! Pours a decent hazed amber pour, with touches of copper dancing in the body, a loose bubbled offwhite head dies to near nothing. Aromas are a good deal of oak, Bourbon, and vanilla. Touches of spice, some gentle biscuits and good dose of caramel, toffee. Sweetness, touches of toast. A solid barrel presence. Initial is medium bodied, offering a healthy barrel presence yet not hot. Vanilla, spirit, and Bourbon. Caramel, toffee, biscuits come into the backend, with sweet chestnuts, toast, and touches of raisins dancing into the fold. Lacking carbonation, giving it a touch of flatness, but the flavors are quite nice. Nose wasn’t a letter writer. But, it did what it needed to.

12 oz. bottle, fairly fresh 2011 batch. Opening with a soft hiss, the bottle springs forth a dense, viscous body that is dark honey-amber to sienna in color. There is no true head, only a small gathering of clear, thin-walled bubbles at the outer edge. It certainly looks every bit as under-carbonated as Alan Sprints himself proclaimed it to be.

The nose is very bourbon-centric, showcasing that rich Kentucky nectar prominently. Notes of buttered toffee, moderately roasted caramel, and vanilla all ring true. Raw almonds and sugar-roasted hazelnuts lend considerable nuttiness. There is a hint of marmalade-like fruity sweetness that is contrasted nicely by the very slight dill pickle-brine twang (not infection) that I sometimes get from bourbons. That twang accentuates the underlying rye malt well, bringing a somewhat drier counter to the sweeter candy sugars.

Flavors follow up beautifully, rich and warming, showing a broad spectrum of caramel sugars, toffee, and nuts. I even gets hints of maple and marzipan. Hints of dry, lightly twangy, sourdough-like yeast keep things from getting excessively saccharine. It’s rich, but not excessively so.

The palate seems less substantive than I recall Fred being for some reason. It’s under carbonated and syrupy to a large degree, but the heft seems to be cut a bit by something. Alcoholic warmth is persistent and the lack of bubbles leaves things a little lifeless. It’s definitely a slow sipper, but even at that, it could use some fizz.

On the whole, the beer smells pretty amazing, but falls short in other areas. The lack of carbonation is a pretty big deal. It wouldn’t take much, but there is virtually none here. It’s pretty twangy and alcoholic as well. Solid beer, for sure, but I prefer both the standard Fred and the virgin oak version.

2011 Vintage. Shared with friends. Poured flat, almost no carbonation. Smelled of strong caramel and bourbon. Any heat was masked by a nice sweet syrupy and caramel taste with pleasant bourbon notes. Maybe tiny hints of vanilla. Quite enjoyable, although would be better with some carbonation.

12 oz. bottle from the brewery, split with Matts_Property, pours a completely still, murky dark brownish orange with no head, only a few bubbles. Nose is very rich of wood, bourbon, liqueurs, booze, and some caramelized dark fruits - complex nose that doesn’t seem overtaken by the barrels. Flavour of rich caramel, toffee, syrup, brown sugar, slight woody bourbon presence though the sweetness is more prominent and some alcohol. Palate is syrupy, oily, semi-boozy and devoid of any carbonation - I think it needs at least a little bit more lively body. Definitely prefer regular Fred, but nonetheless, this is very enjoyable.

Leather, prune, creamy sherry, maple syrup, and tawny port on the nose. Oh mercy! Watery dark tea in the glass, spotty ring of largish bubbles. In love. Thinking about Thomas Hardy’s aged in Macallan barrels. Deep fruit wrapped in leather. A little segmented, a little hot, this should mellow beautifully. 20 years? Hope so. Orange peel.