Hair of the Dog Dave

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

Serve in Snifter

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Date: 06/03/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

Appearance: clear dark brown, headless, thick viscous legs,
Aroma: rich rum soaked dark fruit aroma, alcohol shows as it breaths a while and then starts to disapate again, brown sugar sweetness,
Body: body appears big at first but the alcohol thins it out,
Flavor: hot caramel and brown sugar flavor, plenty of residual woody earthyness adds the balancing bitterness, lingering alcohol finish, touch of chocolate backed by a dark caramel character that offers a hint of sweetness, touch of licorice adds to the sweet backend,

Aroma: 9/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+/4

Dark brown with burgundy highlights. Intense whiskey, tamari, burnt plum, and alcohol in the aroma...now that’s attention-grabbing. Thick, oily, but lively, in that Gale’s POA sort of way. Flavour brings toffee, Highland malt, more tamari, dark fruits, chocolate chip cookies. Smooth, sweet, gorgeous. As giant beers, not only does this measure up in terms of complexity but also in terms of balance and drinkability. Hot damn.

(355ml bottle, courtesy of ¾) Pours a brown body with excellent legs. Aroma of soy sauce (quite salty), brown sugar, caramel, raisins, molasses, and alcohol. Flavor of alcohol, toffee, caramel, raisins, and soy.

Black body, no head. Aroma is moderately sweet, anise, slightly smoky. Taste is much the same, but also with alcohol bitterness and finishing with an alcohol burn. While definitely noticeable, the alcohol is neither overwhelming nor unpleasant. A big, beautiful beer.

I really can’t believe that I got a chance to try this. Many, many thanks to fredandboboflo. Deep amber brown beer with no head at all. Aroma is very rich and sweet. There is a lot going on in here... cocoa, tobacco, wood and bourbon. Cherry, molasses and a lot of sweet dried fruit. Pomegranate and date molasses wrapped around sweet honey hazelnuts and almonds. Finishes quite sweet and cocoaish with lingering date and a savoury licorice/soy character. Fairly boozy retronasally, but this isn’t really noticible in the mouth. Sort of like a rich mix of tawny port, bourbon, and barleywine. It’s hard to believe that this works nearly as well as it does. Again, many thanks for sharing such a gem of a beer.

2oz sample from a 375ml clear bottle: Pours a still, viscous, transparent dark copper amber mahogany with nice legs. Rich aroma of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, maple syrup and raisins along with a touch of toasted malt and slightly warming alcohol. Body starts very rich, full and dense with good caramel sweetness and complex peanut brittle flavors. Flavor has hints of tobacco and honey before a semi-dry slightly toasty finish with noticable, but not overpowering warmth and a touch of mint. I sampled this alongside a 2007 Sam Adams Utopias and this was earthier and much drier with some woody notes, but hid the alcohol much better than the Utopias. Overall, a very unique and complex beer that I was glad to have the chance to try. I hope Alan gets a chance to recreate this on a larger, less expensive scale.

UPDATED: FEB 17, 2008 Sampled @ the brewery during RBSG 2004. Dark brown, light brown head. Very vinous, with sweet molasses, candy-like flavors... slightly bubbly, roasted wood everywhere. Does not resemble 29% at ALL. A bite of sweet cherries and plums with some brown sugar, warming the mouth and throat as you swallow. Really remarkable that this experience is sweet chocolate and brown sugar in the middle, and it’s not as thick as 29% would suggest. Really excellent.

A big time thanks to tertons for sharing this amazing beer with me. Pours black and still. Smells of caramel, toffee, hints of complimentary oak, hints of fruit, touches of pepper, bananas, some touches of cherries. Tastes boozy with some caramel, sweet malt, touches of toffee, chocolate, raisins, hints of cognac. Finish yields an earthy sting.

Wow the holy grail of beer. A lot of work went into getting this beer, but a special thanks to Diego for the harpoon that brought THE beer to what was the best tasting I may ever attend. Rich brownish red pour. No head to speak of. Aroma of raisins, sherry, some light smoke, vanilla and rich toffee. Flavor is so bold. The vanilla and port jump out and grab you while wisps of raisins, molasses, caramel, sherry wine, brown sugar and plums dance around your taste buds. Just to try this I am humbled. It was awesome. Simply amazing. Thank you Diego.

Worcestershire sauce bottle, 375ml. Poured deep, murkier brown with no head but some mighty fine legs! The aroma picked up deep, dark caramel, chocolate, and toffee with tar and maple rising greatly with warmth.. some spicy alcohol was evident, but nowhere near the level you’d expect.. amped-up port wine and more maple singe the nose hairs right at the back. The flavor had deep port-laden maple syrup and charred, well-aged caramel at the core.. salty soy and dark chocolatey notes come through in a second wave.. some older oaky notes at the back with warming maple and soy again.. warmed up the belly, but the booze factor was somehow held in check.. wow! Full bodied, thick, and syrupy on the palate.. heat fell into the stomach.. great balance. Phenominal!