Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

Thanks to cbkschubert for tis pour. Caramel color with frothy off-white head. Nose of sweet dried fruit with toffee. Flavor is sweet and malty with the wood catching up at the end. Nice little touch of hops which is balanced great with the malt. Nice warm alcohol on the lips.

Bouteille – batch 64, courtoisie de Blankboy. De couleur ambrée orange et voilée. Nez boisé (fût de chêne), malté de caramel sucré, légèrement terreux et de sucre brun (notes de sirop d’érable et de toffee), moyennement fruité (léger de raisins vineux et de cerises aux notes sûres) et d’alcool avec des notes de vanille, de fumée de cigarette, de houblon herbeux (notes terreuses) et d’épices (poivre). Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-bas et une texture liquoreuse et légèrement crémeuse. Goût assez boisé (fût de chêne, bien présent en arrière-goût toute la gorgée), fruité (léger de raisins aux notes vineuses, cerises vieillies aux note sûres ainsi que des notes d’agrumes et de pêche) et léger de vanille lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté sucré de caramel aux notes terreuses, léger de sucre brun et avec des notes de pain parallèlement à un goût moyennement amer d’alcool moyen, liquoreux (whisky) et réchauffant ainsi qu’un goût de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques (pamplemousse) puis en finale, on distingue un goût de fumée de cigarette légèrement asséchant ainsi que des notes épicées (poivre). Post-goût long, moyennement amer d’alcool liquoreux et moyen de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques, assez boisé (fût de chêne) et légèrement fruité (moût de raisins et de cerises).

Pours a burnt orange with a tan head. Aroma is sweet toffee and caramel with a earthy and oak aroma to it. Some spices comes out at the very end of a long sniff. First sip was sampled far too cold and little flavor except the oak was decetable. After warming up some this beer really comes into its own. I can definatley say that the wood character is amazing here and the oak is a wonderful focus point of the brew. However, there is a toffee and caramel sweetness about the whole thing that is just amazing. Hops are not nearly as present in this barleywine as normal, is this even really a barleywine? Still, the hops are more for bittering versus flavor and present themselves nicely with a bittering finish.

Lovely warm orange pour, sticky cream head leaving lace all over the glass and lingering in a nice skim. At first sniff, freshly turned mulch, medicine, bile. Further inquiry reveals vanilla, smoke, toasted sugar, wet fresh-sawn oak boards, cloves. Lively, rough, interesting. And now a sip. An army of wood ants appear on my tongue, each give a tart nip, then are replaced with a molasses sweetness, slowly fading to a vapory, smokey finish. Lingering tannins coat the mouth. As the glass progresses, the riot of flavors move toward cherries and vanilla. What an intense beer! My mouth is slightly confused and frightened, but I like it. Thanks so much for sharing this one Hezron!

Bottle: Dirty caramel, hazy, large foamy off-white head, clumpy lacing, soft carbonation.   Strong woody aroma, quite sweet.   Sweet malty start, very oakish on the tongue.   Good balance of hop bitterness and malt sweetness.   Oak aspect is strong, yet fits well with the style and this particular beer.   This is too easy to drink.   Oak lovers, or even Cedar lovers, will really enjoy this beer.   Its odd, the wood seems like a cross between the aformentioned Oak and Cedar.   As a Barley Wine, it seems very soft, yet robust.   Simple, yet quite divine.   The wood carries this one from start to finish, and is the strongest factor.   For a young Barley Wine its very palatable.   It would be interesting to see how age affects this one.   As is, its quite pleasant and quite clean.   Thanks Bill for the bottles!

Batch 64 with a big thanks to Brock_Landers. Pours murky orange with a large head. Fair lacing. Huge aroma of oak with some sour grapes. I’d even say bretty, but it seems like I would be in the minority.
Taste bring up the sourness over the wood. Also tasted a little toffee and vanilla. A bit vinious. Flavor is heavily sour and moderately sweet. Alcohol is well covered. Tangy texture. Super tasty.

Re-rate: My bottle (341ml) shared with HogTownHarry & garthicus. I last had this at a time when it seemed like every 3rd beer was barrel-aged and I was quite sick of it and the rating suffered just a bit because of it. Now, a considerable time later I can appreciate this beer for what it is. Not much to add from what I last wrote, just that’s it’s quite nice. A nice balance of oak, vanilla, malt & hops. Good stuff.
original rating: 8.4.7.4.15: 3.8
Bottle. Batch 64. Pours a cloudy orange-amber with some floaties and an average size lasting off-white head. Aroma of oak up front followed by sweet malt, fruit and hops. In the aroma the oak/bourbon is not overpowering which is nice, but in the flavour it’s much more in your face, not insanely but still a bit too much for my liking, along with sweet malt, fruit, some hops and a slightly boozy and bitter finish. Medium to full bodied. I’ve rated this slightly higher then I actually enjoyed it because of the predominance of oak and how sick I am of that, but it’s still a very well made beer and I did like it, I just didn’t love it.

Bottle. Rate Beer Speacial Release. Thanks to Jason (Kramer17801) for this nice bottle. Pours a clear amber color with an off-white head. Sweet malty slightly alcoholic vanilla aroma. With some hints of wood. Smooth oak malty vanilla flavor with some hints of alcohol. Has a dry oak finish with lots of vanilla in the aftertaste.