Hair of the Dog Dave

Formerly brewed at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Another rarity from xmarcnolanx. Pours dark with a crimson hue and no head ~ nice legs on this thing. The aroma has dark toffee insanity infused with hefty alcohol presence. There is also hazelnuts and dark fruits. Medium / thin body with velvety body and no carbonation. The flavor starts with heavy alcohol, brown sugar, dark malt, anise and lots of burn. The finish is very hot. This was definitely interesting.

Bottle Pours a good brown with no head. Aroma is great I get alcohol, vanilla, sweet fruits, caramel, and chocolate. The flavor needs to come through the alcohol but when it does it is awesome. For this high of an ABV this is blended very well. Has a heavy body. A hearty mouthfeel. This is something which must be tried to fully apriciate. It is very good. Its hard to do but you should share this with friends.

Thanks to Floydster for this share at the Belgianfest at the Carlsbad Pizza Port. This beer was another one i’ve been wanting to taste for awhile and it was way cool. Strong alcohol nose so I let it air out a little. First sip was an experience and the vanilla jumped right out with a strong alcohol burn that quickly diminished with another sip.So if you took a creamy vanilla flavor and added some cocoa and some oxidation with and alcohol burn of 29% you get the picture. Most like a Utopia. Thanks again to Kyle AKA Floydster for this generous share. Also seaoflament and rallison who were there as well! Awesome Thanx!

Floydster. Damn. You are a truly great man. Thank you for a once in a lifetime opportunity. The infamous Dave. The clear bottle with the twist off cap. The 29% monster. The 15 year old white whale. And so on..like any of this is news to anyone in the beer scene :p

Flat, oily, dark brown appearance. Super viscous. Huge legs (if we want to get into wine terms). This is beer? Just barely. Sweet, candied caramel and drunken dates on the nose with a surprisingly restrained alcohol presence given the 29%. Very inviting, in a warming way. Burnt sugar, rich dates, warming alcohol and a huge maple syrup presence in the taste (in the good way, not the Triple Bock way). Oak notes, light oxidation (of the complementary sort - think port or sherry sort of oxidation), awesome. Thick, rich beer. And thick. And rich. No carbonation (did you expect or want any? No, I think not). Alcohol warmth, and then some, at the end. Alcohol burn is much more mellow than on Utopias (and, given that this is 29% vs the 25% or so of Utopias, quite impressive). Night cap? Yes, and an awesome one at that. Drinkability? Are you going to have a full pint of this? Probably a bad idea. Of course, Kyle mentioned that, at one Toronado BW fest (late 90s I think), this was on tap for 6 ounce pours. Apparently there were a few more fights than usual that year. That said, for 29%, this drinks exceptionally well. There is alcohol warmth, and a slight alcohol burn, but, again, given the ABV, it is incredibly smooth and mellow.

Wow. Yes. This beer is that good.

Not much in the way of head or carbonation, but that was to be expected. The aroma has some vanilla, cocoa, alcohol, dark stone fruits and some oak. The flavors were wonderful and mellow with little alcohol flavor. A lot of mouthfeel but not bad due to the high alcohol. An overall delight. May need to be served with a an orange wedge to round it out. (Just Kidding!!!)

Best yet. Had a good friend bring some home from Oregon. Incredible flavor. Lots of chocolate flavor, with a sweet bourbon aftertaste. Just an awesome beer.

Wow, can’t believe I got this one. Shared with 6 other people. Ended up bringing this and Millennium to the tasting. Also had Utopias and 1999 Lou Pepe Pure Kriek among others. Aroma is sweet cocoa, oak, mineral, alcohol, some cassis and soy. Drinking side by side with Millennium and Utopias, this beer kind of gets lost in the shuffle, so to speak. Insanely delicate and complex for such a monster with a viscous, full mouthfeel. Tastes so ridiculously complex it is hard to describe. The oak comes in waves along with some medicinal vanilla, maple, some olive and more oak. Legs forever on this thing. Lovely.

thanks marc for the opportunity to try this rarity. as mentioned before, my initial thoughts of this were that it was similar to triple bock. this would be a much smoother, complex and easier to drink version, though. this had a lot going on and i wish i had more!