Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

12 oz. bottle. Pours a hazy deep amber color with a large fluffy off white head. The aroma was caramel malts, fruity, citrus, oak, earthy hops and somewhat floral. The flavor has nice caramel maltiness, ripe fruits, and oak. An earthy bitterness adds some balance to the malts. There is just a hint of alcohol which is good for a 10% beer. Medium-full bodied and very smooth. This is a sipper. I wasn’t expecting the amount of carbonation that this had and paired with a very mild tart flavors I wonder if this had some slight infection to it. Overall, this was still good, but could it have been better?

Orange brown pour with a thin white head. Oaky aroma with vanilla and wood. Slight funk in the aroma. Slightly sweet and sour malty flavor. Lots of oak to finish.

Rating from memory. Sampled at the brewery during the 1st Annual (2009) Zwickelmania in Portland, OR. Very complex beer. Both aroma and flavor have plenty of sweet malty notes and wood. Mouthfeel is full bodied...viscous and sticky. Will re-rate this one when I come across it again.

12oz bottle, 2009 edition. Sampled alongside Fred batch 76. Pours hazy reddish amber, topped with a modest sized tan head. Beautiful wild aroma, with lots of oak, vanilla, toffee, cherry, and tobacco. Vanilla and oak are primary flavors and are nicely complimented by caramel, dark fruit, pepper, and earthy hops. Medium bodied. Flavor is great, but not as exciting as the aroma.

2009 Bottle from Beerlando (I think). Pours a nice gold with reddish tinges. nose is actually a bit funky, like underripe clingfruit and a kiss of vinegar. The hops press through as well, giving up pine and grapefruit. On taste, this is badass. A sweet oaky-ness comes through, followed by juicy peaches and apricots and a strong bitterness to balance. There is a bit of sourness on the finish as well as some bitter honey notes. This is one of my favorite barleywines of all time.

2009 vintage. It’s been a while since I’ve had a Fred unfortunately, so I can’t really compare them to each other which would be nice. A - Deep hazy copper with a finger of tan head. Head dissipates quickly with no lacing, but leaves an oily film almost. S - Barrel aging is apparent in the nose. Oak, malts, spice, vanilla, molasses, decent citrus hops, and a tinge of alcohol. T - I’m really enjoying the amount of hops in this fresh bottle, and the alcohol doesn’t come through much at all compared to the nose. More malts and oak finish it out. M/D - Medium to full body with a little too much carbonation for me. Drinkability is great since I love hoppy barleywines and barrel aging! This is one of the better HotD beers I’ve had. I’m really glad I have another one I can hold on to and see what happens.

’09 12 oz bottle pours rich amber with minimal head into a snifter. Aroma of wet oak wood chips, caramel malts, sour lactose, bit of hop bitterness, dried bananas, apricots. Upfront caramel malts quickly give way to an odd lactose sourness. Oak flavor is definitely present in full.. really weird character. Dried fruits, vanilla, finishes sweet and sour. Silky smooth mouthfeel with low carbonation, full bodied. Definitely an odd one and left me very confused, but pleased.

The lemony vanilla aroma from the oak barrels is perfect. The appearance is ruby yellow light amber with a small but nice head. The flavor is so smooth it is hard to believe it is a barley wine. It is slightly sweet like hints from the barley wine, but easy on the palate.