Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

Thin light beige head from a soft pour. Loads of sediment in the bottom of this one. Good carbonation for a BW. Wonderful aroma loads of piney hops, oranges and sweet malts. Color is a ruddy dark orange copper. Smooth and creamy in the mouth. Lots of hops presence along with a bit of roasty dryness. Not as sweet as many barleywines. Boy they got the balance right with this one. More pine and caramel. Hides its alcohol very well for a 10+% brew. Little bit of peanuts also. FInish is dry and bitter with a nice lingering hops aftertaste. A top quality barleywine especially is the BIG sweet ones are not to your liking. Thanks to robertsrealty for this great brew.

Pours a deep orange copper with one hell of a huge head, it’s thick and creamy tan and simply will not go away. Nose is very robust, lots of citrus and pine notes, very hoppy with little else. Flavor is unique yet perfectly natural. Instantly sweet, with a honey sweetness and an almost orange flavor. Finishes with a nice hop twist, and subtle alcohol warmth. Damn good, one of the best barley wines I’ve had.

March 2006: 2003: Best of the bunch, aroma of sourmilk tobacco and sweet heat. Very chewy and well balanced. Spice filled palate of corriander sour orange and tobacco. 2004: Retained more carbonation than 03. More heat on the nose, sweeter flavour with mead like qualities. 2005: Quickly fading head. grasssy aroma with lemon grass and clover. Hop presence of an IPA, light heat on the palate.

2003 sampled in 2006: Fairly cloudy, brownish. Very strong figgy aroma, with sherry notes also strong. Big sherry and madeira on the palate. Woody. Vinous like an oak aged chardonnay. Finish is hot, a touch peppery.
Ar8 Ap 3 Fl 8 P 4 O 18

2004 sampled in 2006: Appearance much like the 2003, but with more effervescence and head. Aroma more fruity, and woody, less oxidized. A little harsher and less integrated, especially with the big sweet honey up front.
Ar 7 Fl 7 P 3 O 16

2005 sampled in 2006: Aroma very different from the two older bottles: piney hops! Also, solventy fusel alcohol notes. Very potent. Somewhat smooth but resiny palate - drinks very much like a double IPA.
Ar 7 Fl 7 P 3 O 17
I’m using the 3 year old bottle (the best one IMO) for the rating, on the basis that this beer appears to age well and it can achieve that level of goodness.

2004 Vintage. Consumed at Brouwer’s Hard Liver Barleywine Fest this year. Poured a beautiful red/brown/copperish color. A very potently mild aroma with many flavors running through the nasal. The taste was of much complex, has mellowed out nicely, while still having quite a bite to it. Definitely heavy on the molasses. This brew actually won this year’s Fest out of 47 different barleywines!

12 oz bottle of 2006 vintage - FRESH: Pours a suprisingly reddish-brown coppor color. The red really sticks out. The head is a nice hazelnut color, with some darker color at the last few drops. The aroma is of liccorice, apples/pears, lots of hops for a barleywine, grapefruit, pine, and some alcohol. The flavor is great. Sweeter than I was expecting. Some caramel notes, with a touch of cinamon, grapes, figs, brwon sugar, molases, hops and spices towards the end just before the soft lingering of a wonderful mouthfeel.

2005 vintage. This beer has a huge aroma of pine and hops that drifts out of the class and can be detected from over a foot a way. It fills the glass with a heavy sediment filled caramel colored solution that comes to rest under a thick cashew colored head. The head is not afraid to stick around or deposit a healthy amount of lacing on the perimeter of the glass. This beer fills the mouth with a thick, rich and sweet solution. The taste is of Hops! A hint of caramel drifts in briefly at the finish but it soon succumbs to the hops that linger on and on in the aftertaste.

2005 bottle from Larry Pitonka. pours with a ton of yeast sediment, which float around the medium copper liquid. something unpleasant is hiding in the aroma behind the impressive malt profile - a "stinky" hops character that i don’t particularly care for. but the flavor is something to savor... tons of pale malt and caramel malt throughout, and an amazing balance of hops that doesn’t ever allow the flavor to become cloyingly sweet, nor does it ever get overly bitter. tones of strawberry, grass, wood-- it’s beautiful. full finish, with a lingering flavor that i wish would stay for another hour or so. excellent brew, thanks andre!