Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

Serve in Snifter

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12oz bottle from batch 64 (ratebeer.com 2006 release). Pours translucent deep amber. No light rays pass directly through this stuff. Subtle aroma (though I will admit to be getting over a cold) of earthy apples and citrus, with some alcohol and oak. In the mouth it starts with honey, then the oak comes in with vanilla, followed by alcohol. Aftertaste literally tingles on the tongue (I get the same sensation from grapefruit juice), and is heavy with oak. Definite alcohol warming. Subsequent swallows get more earthy and oaky, with a slight bitterness. Very mellow and lush in the mouth. If this is really a barley wine, it’s the best I’ve tasted. The hotd web site cites it as a "golden strong ale", though. This beer is an amazing piece of craftsmanship, and I’m honored to have been able to sample it. It is one of two beers (the other being a 2005 Dark Lord) where everything is almost perfectly in balance (personally, I might like the oak toned down a hair, but I’m pretty anti-oak). It doesn’t have any stand-out attribute, which is what’s so outstanding in a big beer.

Bottle poured a beautiful cloudy copper with a small but lingering light amber head. Aromas of toasty oak, carmel, vanilla, fruitiness and a hint of honey. Palate was medium bodied and very smoooth. Flavors of [heaven?] vanilla, toasty oak, a hint of good bourbon, apples, pears, melon and light citrus with an extremely pleasent lingering bittersweet finish!!! Thanks Alan, this beer really rocks!

Just got this wonderful beer from Liquid Solutions. Hazy orange-amber, very slight head, wonderful aroma - woody, fruity and moss, very complex. The first hit is alcohol, then a wonderful woodsy, grass and maybe hay rolls over the tongue with a hoppy after taste. The beer has a very chewy moutn feel. As this beer warms, I get more citrus. This is an incredible beer. Thanks, Alan.

UPDATED: MAY 9, 2009 Rerate 06 Ratebeer special release. Deep amber-orange beer with a huge tan-beige head. Aroma is lovely. Soft fruity nose. Lightly peachy with a lot of strong vineous notes. A nice sweet vanilla oakiness and a bit of mintiness on the back. It’s aded really nicely... sweet and vineous with a lot of woody complexity. Earthy/chewy hoppiness. Very delicious. 8 4 8 4 17 Pale amber beer, no head. Big malty, slightly salty aroma. Sweet heavy toffee, big oaky aroma, woody and hoppy resin. Strong peppery alcoholic aroma and flavour. Oaky character and sweet maltiness. 8 3 8 3 15

The stand out beer at Lucky Baldwin’s barley wine fest 2005. How amazed I was to find it there.

Clouded amber hue, good head formation. Strong fruity, prune, aroma, fairly creay with milder tropical fruity balance. Strong sweet fruitiness on the palate, jammy, raisins and cherries, touch of vanilla, warming alcohol finish. Very port like. Exceptional.

UPDATED: MAR 11, 2005 Alan gave us a sample at the brewery and it was just wonderful. Oaky, some nice oxidized character and that great malt of Fred. Such a nice beer...

UPDATED: JUN 24, 2006 6/23/06. Poured out of 12 oz. bottle, obtained from Liquid Solutions via mail order 6/9/06. RateBeer Release. RERATE. Lightly hazy orange caramel color with a moderate-to-thin, mostly tightly-formed light cream head, fading slowly to a thin surface dusting. Lacing is average-- spotty, uneven, but finely sanded and somewhat sticky where it falls. Aroma is wicked as ever, but not quite what I remember-- extremely fruity, yeasty, hypnotically woody with a waxy, sweet-and-sour vanilla essence. The caramel character is even doughy like cinnamon cookies. Flavor is a little rough in comparison, plenty of tobacco (a mixture of sweet, soft new cigar and spent ash-- there’s a definite ashen prickle to this) and still featuring the wax-wood and vanilla, but also met with a bubblegummy and prickly hop presence, just a bit too raw at this stage (although with the sourness hinted at in the nose, I’m really not quite sure how this will age). Mouthfeel is outstanding-- fine carbonation is fluffy, fuzzy and tingling, intertwined with the snippy alcohol bite and gentle warmth, all surrounding a full body that packs an astoundingly dry, sappy finish. Vanilla, dry wood, faint vinous sourness and fruitiness, over-toasted sugar cookies where Mom forgot to add the sugar. Still, quite a treat. Thanks, Mom! 9/3/8/5/17/4.2 ORIGINAL RATING: 8/28/04. Poured out of 1.5 L bottle, sampled at Dr. Bill and Steiny’s 8th Annual 12-Hour Beer Festival in Orange, CA 8/28/04. Pours a lightly hazy orange-caramel color. Slight head that lingers in a rocky ring. Not much lacing at all. Lovely round caramel nose and a very mellow, subdued wood character. Very subtle and inviting. Touch of sweetness and bitter hops. Huge body. Touch of wood sourness masking an awesome velvety sweetness and then finally a dirty bitter malt. Perhaps too much wood, but only slightly. Amazing body. Slight carbonation tingle, big alcohol and very dry, numbing finish. It actually seems HIGHER than 10% ABV, but in a very good way. A bit of pith in the flavor, a bit of caramel and brown sugar. Thick, viscous and chewy. 9/3/8/4/18/4.2

UPDATED: JUN 18, 2006 Bottle. Head is initially small, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy medium amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (cookie, caramel), lightly to moderately hoppy (apricot, orange, resin), with a strong note of raw wood, notes of alcohol, candy, toffee, vanilla. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/syrupy texture, soft carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Not as good as when I had it at the brewery (which was aged longer IIRC). Too much raw wood in the nose, but otherwise pretty nice.

UPDATED: JUL 8, 2006 RBSG04, DRAFT: Amber-orange with a thin but creamy head. Awesome nose: woodsy, wholesome, fresh, and a little yeasty. Smooth and thick texture. Very complex with meaty malt flavors. Big wood notes. Melded hops, smooth and pleasant. Sweet and warming. A real pleasure to drink. BOTTLE, RATEBEER SPECIAL RELEASE 2006: Some may have had capping issues, but my bottles were great ... opened with a healthy pfsst. Hazy and medium amber. Nose smelled of fermented apples in a wood barrel full of caramel. Creamy and weighty palate; nice carb level. Toffee and toast. Warming alcohol. Nippy hops.

RBSG 2004, on cask at the brewery: 7 year old sample, bright orange color without much head. Sharp wood aroma with vanilla and a lambic-like funk. Starts and ends sweet, fizzy mouthfeel, long fruity aftertaste.