Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

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

2007 bottle. Beautifully balanced barley wine. Perfect level of hops. Perfect level of sweetness.

2007 bottle. Poured a murky burnt orange with a lasting cream colored head. Aromas of tropical, peach, tangerine and floral hops with a bit of piney, woody note as well. Sweet toffee malt flavor, but nicely cut with a bright hop profile. Love the Simcoe-Amarillo combo. Warming woody and dried fruit finish. Full bodied and smooth mouthfeel. While naturally sweet on the malt side, it doesn’t come across as having that cloying syrupyness which I’ve come to hate in some other barleywines. Nicely balanced and kick-ass all at once.

One of the best beers I’ve had of this type. Strong, sweet, hoppy aroma, and hoppy taste.

Great color, nice reddish caramel. Absolutely no head, zip, zero, nada – the beer is completely flat. Nice aroma! Vanilla, cherries, some oak, sweet caramel, and alcohol. Palate is sticky with zero carbonation. Flavor is much the same as the nose, sweet & tart cherries, vanilla, and alcohol. Maybe just a touch too sweet for my taste in barleywines, but a pretty good barlywine none the less, too bad it’s flat.

Boboski gave me this 2004 vintage, Thanks Jason!! Pours a murky amberish brown with a lasting tan ring foam head. Man, the aroma is complex. I’m getting pine, hints of citrus hops, some grassiness, a mild alcohol sensation inside a smooth mixture of dates, prunes, cherries, raisins then behind that I smell roasted, chocolate and caramel malts. The fluid is viscous initially ushering in citrus and pine hops that are mild and muted along with stewed fruits like plums, figs, raisins, prunes, cherries and dates. Just like the aroma there is an under current of malts like chocolate, caramel and mild roastiness. The one tiny fault I get is the hops are just a hint much for the style. That’s getting a bit too picky. Very enjoyable elixir.

Pours a deep amber with a thin lacing head.Nose is caramel and fruit sweet.Sweet, caramel and fruit and alcohol with a small alcohol burn on my tounge.The finish was warming going down.

Bottle from 2003 thanks to kramer17801 for this one. Pours a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Roasted malty dark fruit aroma with some weak hints of hops. Sweet malty bitter dark fruit flavor with hints of caramel and hops. Warming finish with lots of caramel and dark fruit, also some alcoholic hints. Very nice one.

Thanks to (pantanap) Kan. Pours amber with no head what-so-ever and very little carbonation. Aroma of malt, dark fruit, caramel, and a little hop to round things out. Flavors of sweet amlt, and some hop bitterness along with some booziness. Mouthfeel was somewhat creamy with a very boozy warming feeling towards the end.