Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

Tap @ Toronado Barley Wine Festival. Dark amber color with a nice foamy brown head. The flavor has grass, malts, caramel, pine needles, and peaty earthiness. This one has a lot of character.

(02.25.06) 12 oz bottle purchased from Liquidsolutions.com. 10.5% ABV. 2005 vintage. Pours clear amber with light maple syrup consistency. Small white head. Soft carbonation. Intense hoppy aroma. Full bodied that starts with moderate malt sweetness and blast of citrusy hop flavor. Sharpness in the mouth. Finishes with intense hop flavor and bitterness fade. Smooth and rich with sturdy malt backbone that barely supports mouth scrubbing hop presence. Definite alcoholic warmth. Could use some aging to mellow out hops - hopheads take note. This barleywine is excellent beer and best consumed after a meal or as a nightcap.

Bottle. Ana amazing surprise home run of a beer. 3 oz enough to send shivers down your spine. Tons of malt, fruit flavors, woodsy, man oh man, it’s public fruit, secret forest, warm fire on a rainy night. What a great beer all around, a meat cogar of a beer, I hope to have many more in my lifetime, and I wish they were all this good!

03’ bottle-Man this is what a barley wine should be...thanks to my girlfriend for bringing me a few back from seattle. This fucker pours an amazing carmel cream amber...and has a monster and delicious pale yolk head. Smell is of buttery candy, sweet malts, raisins/plum, and a bit of bitter hops. Taste is perfect...intensely creamy, sweet, and malty...like grandmother’s butter candies. There is a great noticeable alcohol and bitter balance...some grass and spice...and the taste is incredibly dynamic. Mouthfeel is a pure creamy medium bodied. This brew kicks ass...I wish a had 3 more bottles of this stuff...oh wait...I do. ***** This beer is crazy good.

Tap at Toronado. Pours golden to red with a medium head. Aroma is fairly alcoholic with not much else. Flavor is sweet and again dom inated by alcohol. This one is in your face. The palate could be decribed as a bit cloying. It finishes with a lasting sweetness and more alcohol.

Original rating in 2006: 9.4.9.4.19 On tap at Collins Pub REAL Stong Beer Festival. 3 tasters/$6. ’03 vintage. Wow. Deep red with good head. Can smell it before she even takes her hand away from the glass. Fantastic strong smells of toffee and vanilla, a little banana. Hints of brown sugar, banana, vanilla, toffee. Some dark cherry flavors. Great flavor, and not at all overpowering by alcohol. Impressive beer...I got goose bumps drinking it.

Re-rate Fresh ’07 Bottle: Hazy brownish red with beautiful fluffy head. Amazing hop aroma. The previous aged ’03 I had was mild in the hops, this is the exact opposite. The switch in focus to hops post ’04 completely changed this beer; but it’s just as good both ways. I loved it the first time, and I love it now.

2003 (drank on 26th Birthday): 11.5%. Pours to a hazy/murky flat mahogany body with a thin white head. Nice lacing. The aroma is very strong. Sweet caramel malts, dried alcoholic fruits including strawberries and grapefruit, simcoe hops. The flavor is a nice alcoholic sweet malt that is full of caramel, powdered sugar, deep flavorful malts, alcoholic strawberries. Intense. Spicy, yeasty, fennel. The palate has lots of noticeable alcohol in it. But, in this case, it is divine. Medium-full body and lingering warming. Almost a touch overpowering. This is mighty tasty. 10, 4, 8, 4, 18 = 4.4
2004 (drank on 26th Birthday): 11.5%. Pours to a clean very dark red-hued brown body with a large beige head and excellent lacing. The aroma is very citrusy compared to the 2003. Nice yeasts, bready malts, licorice. The flavor is a toasty malt with oranges, pine, sweet malts, powdered sugar. A whole different beast a year "fresher". (assuming same recipe). The palate is thicker, chewier, and creamier. They seem like totally different beers but both are awesome in their own right. 10, 5, 8, 5, 18 = 4.6
Averaged to 4.5. 2005:Very citrusy. Wowzers. Hoppy, malty, barley. Still as good as ever. 9, 5, 9, 5, 18 = 4.6

got this in a trade but lost my notes. so thank you to the one that sent this beer. poured a orangish brown with a slighty off white head. aroma hops and more hops, alcohol, grapefruits, pine. flavor, got to lot the hops and the burn of the alcohol, caramel, citrus and just a touch of malts and fruits. a very good beer.