Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

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

2005 vintage dark caramel color with thin persistent cream head. almost a bit sweet with a grainy feel. very good. 2007 special edition no head retention, little syrupy body and with mellow complex flavors. even better than the 05.

2008 Release, Tap @ Bailey’s Taproom... Poured ruby with an off-white head. Aroma of tart malt and brown sugar. Silky palate that wrapped around the tongue with a syrupy base. Flavors of bitter barley-malt. Alcohol presence is mild but enough to satisfy. Other flavors of lettuce and herbs which mend with the malt and some hops to balance. Aftertaste of sweet caramel or maybe toffee.

(bottle, 2005) Pours reddish brown with some sediment and a scant off-white head. Aroma is very strong, and displays a lot of fruit scents. Smells of pineapple, lychee, peach, cherry skin, hops, and a substantial amount of toffee and caramel is lurking underneath the fruity smells. Upon warming, the beer takes on a slightly sour smell, which detracts a bit from the initial aroma. I think this is the oxidation. Alcohol also is evident as well. The taste is pretty simple, but very good, with a huge blast of toffee and caramel, that switches to sweet cherry and yields to a slight tartness of cherry skin. The finish is a light bitterness with lingering tastes of burnt caramel. The mouthfeel of this beer is great, perfectly carbonated, and the beer is quite full and chewy. A very well crafted barleywine, and the flavor really stands out here.

bottle, thanks OSLO! On second tasting with a fresher bottle, I smell a lot of fresh roasted peanuts, with some toffee as well, and musty hops (which must be the Simcoe). I also thought the flavor was excellent and tasted completely different than the first bottle I had. The nuttiness was there in the flavor along with toffee, and a light bitterness that blended together very nicely.

[Bottle, ’05] Pours red with a little dark sediment and almost no head. Aroma has a lot of caramel, some pineapple, a hint of cherry, and something sort of vegetal. The taste is quite sweet, with alcohol, caramel malt, and a hint of the cherry again. Good mouthfeel with a fairly long, malty finish. I really enjoyed the taste of this, but the longer I drank it the less I liked the aroma. Old rating: 6/3/8/4/16=3.7

[Bottle, ’06, drank on 10/04/08--thanks go to my sister for getting this from CA] Pours clear dark amber with no head; looks like honey. Aroma is very nutty and quite sweet--caramel, honey, and a hint of alcohol. Taste is alcohol, also very sweet with the nuttiness in the finish, along with a little toasted malt. Good mouthfeel with a long finish. Much better than the ’05 I had, and an excellent barley wine.

Didn’t write down the vintage but I bet this has to be the one I had. Nice floral and caramel in the nose. Flavor is pretty good, not heavy at all until the aftertaste. Not too hoppy, and maybe just a slight bit not agressive enough.

Bottle of the 2007. Iced tea appearance with a thin head. Powerful aroma of brown sugar and floral hops. Rich, sugary sweet flavor, full of fruits. Flirts with cloying, but still quite nice.

Doggie Claw vertical years 2007 - 2002. Thanks to drewbeerme for bringing all of these years. All from 12 oz bottles. Overall an interesting note is that 02 starts off as a lighter orange and the years get darker to 04 and then they get lighter again where 07 returns to the 02 color. Along with the different colored malts these beers seemed quite a bit different from one another. But based on our tasting, I’d recomend drinking this fresh.

2003 vintage. Pours a medium red orange with a tan head. Nose is sweet toffee, brown sugar, caramel, grains and butterscotch. It kind of reminds me a sugary kids cereal. Swirling this brings out the unnoticed notes of oxidation and paper. Sweet flavors, alcohol, red fruit, paper. Dry finish. 7/3/7/3/12 = 3.2

2004 vintage. Pours a dark red orange with a thin tan head. The aroma is really vegetal and oxidized but not all together bad. Brown sugar, red fruit, cereal grains, and dark fruit. This one is really fruity and the oxidation gets more annoying as it warms. Flavors are sweet. Caramels, red fruit, boozy, a charred note i nthe finish and that papery oxidation. 7/4/7/3/13 = 3.4

2005 vintage. Pours a clear orange red with a thin beige head. Nose is vegetables and tropical fruits. Sugars, caramels, and all around sweet. Flavors are lighter than the previous vintages. Fruit, caramels, touch of hops that are faded but contribute nicely. Balanced well. This one was my second favorite of the years. The hops are in a good place and the tropical fruit is enjoyable. 7/4/8/3/14 = 3.6

2006 vintage. Pours a hazed orange, almost murky with no head. Vegetable aromas, toffee, caramel, funky malts. They smell aged and foul. Flavors are sweet caramels, citrus, faded hops that are grassy and annoying. Sugarry and this tastes worse as it warms up. This was my least favorite of the night. 5/2/6/3/12 = 2.8

2007 vintage . Pours a clear orange yellow with an off-white head. Nose of fresh hops, citrus, caramel, and toffee. Those hops smell just picked off the vine. Nice. Sweet toffee flavors. Red fruit, cherries, caramels, citrus, fresh hops. The sweetness is balanced with a good dose of hops. Tasty. This was by far my favorite of the vintages. 8/3/8/4/15 = 3.8 So even though every beer seemed to be different, I’d drink this fresh.

Amber with no head. Aroma was hops and caramel malts. Flavor had a bit of hops but most were already faded out. Strong caramel malty flavor with some raisin, fig, toffee, molasses. Finishes syrupy with almost no carbonation. Slightly boozy.