Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

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

Thanks to pksmith and bluezmadam for sharing this one at Noogfest. Nice creamy off-white head over a medium amber body. Assertive hop aroma. Big malt flavor with plenty of hop bitterness. Good now and this has all it needs to improve in the cellar for years.

Sampled at Noogfest-2. 12 oz bottle, 2005. Thanks to Phil. Pours hazy orange-amber. Lightly sweet aroma with wood hints. The flavor is sweet with wood and grain, and light alcohol. Nicely balanced hops. Very good, but I thought it would be a bit more complex. Creamy round body. Very nice, but some age may bring some improvement.

As I forgot I rated this, I just re-rated the 2006 batch. The aroma notes were differnt this time marking scotch like grains and potent alcohol. I noted sherry, pear, alcohol, toasted caramel and fig neuton in the flavor. Score and everything else remain the same.

Opaque golden-amber colour. The aroma is richly fruity (peach, plum, berry) with slightly oxidized pale malts and the remnants of orangey, lemony hops. Despite this 2005 already showing a bit of age under its belt in the aroma, it certainly doesn’t on the palate. A rich bitterness rolls across the tongue. Sweet fruity notes of pear and pear rescue you, pale malts glide in the soft, smooth HOTD tradition. The finish, however, crushes the palate with the bitterness of a young, overhopped BW and any tastebuds that might be left are slaughtered by strong alcohol notes. The good start can’t make up for the unbalanced finish. This could have been a contender.

Bottle

2003 bottle sampled May 2006.

Pours a gorgeous toffee red-brown with a small orange-yellow head. The aroma is toffee, light orange-peel, cognac, some cheese notes, and, as a previous reviewer pointed out, caramelized carrots (!??!). The flavor comes through as caramelized orange peel, with powerful alcohol warmth mingling with a hop bite that remains strong after 3 years in the bottle. Definitely nothing hidden about the alcohol here; this thick, sticky beer tingles on the palate, augmented by the still lively carbonation. As the beer warms from cellar temperature, it comes into its own, bringing forth a rich malty body, heavy muscat wine, and anise-seed flavors.

Undoubtably a very good beer, and one that I’d like to try with even a few more years on it. Still -- and make what you will of this -- I’m having a hard time getting through even this single bottle in one sitting.

Additional note: Rather to my surprise, I recently (Sept ’06) tried tthe ’03 head to head against the ’04 and the 04 was actually better by a margin, fuller and a bit more complex in mouthfeel without the dominant cheese notes in the ’03.

Draft 2007 on tap at Brouwers.

Cloudy red-brown, aroma of butterscotch and rich apricot, a bit of orange. Flavor is very sweet, massive butterscotch and some candied orange rind. The mouthfeel is thick like laundry detergent, and overall this is really enjoyable. I’d have called it 8/4/8/4/16=4.0. One big thing going for it is that - unlike most of the bottles I’ve tried - it’s entirely unoxidized. I’m starting to wonder if this one is actually at its best when fresh.

Bottle. Muddy orange amber, low golden head, surprisingly heavy carbonation. Estery citrus (mandarin,lime), elegant hoppyness, some ethanol. Light fruity base, citric hops stay in the background, herbal and wooden notes. Hides its strength. Slick, sparkly mouthfeel with a ok chewyness. Mandarin aftertaste. Not overly impressed, was a young bottle though, maybe I should try a aged one.

Noogfest pours a hazy amber/orangeish. An aroma of rich sweet hops with a flavor of w=sweet hops and sweet malt as well. A smooth palate with light smooth carbonation. Have I said that this beer is sweet and smooth with a kick?

Been looking for this one. I got to try some at Noogfest 2006. The body was a cloudy dark orange. The aroma was grapefruit and almonds. Nice and hoppy. The taste was dry toffee with some carrots. There was also caramel and burnt toast. Very good stuff.

[2004 bottle] Poured a ruby mahogany color with a medium sized, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of piney hops, citrus, tons of sticky caramel malts, vanilla, and dried fruits, with subtle roast, and some alcohol as well. Taste of sweet cherries, toffee malts, vanilla, caramel, vinuous, some wood with moderate bittering and some faint alcohol in the finish.