Hair of the Dog Fred

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

Serve in Snifter

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Draft at the source. Hazy golden color, solid white head, solid curtain of lacing. Aroma of pine and light toast. Taste of cinnon toast. Very nice.

A: A very nice golden orange color with a small white that recedes quickly. Nicely carbonated. S: Smells very sweet, I am getting hops and honey or maybe sugar. T: Sweet just like the smell, with some hops on the back of the tongue. M: A bit coating but not too much. Very nice. O: This is pretty good. I was expecting something different but this definitely didn’t let me down.

Sampled blind at Blue Palms Ultimate Brown Bag event. Think this either is a weird Fred strain or something went wrong but not undrinkable. fruity and sour smell. apple cider taste all the way through. Yeasty bread aroma. WIll have to re-sample at another point to compare.

Bottle from Plan B, Copenhagen, shared with Palme. Murky light brown body, no head. Looks more like vegetable broth than beer. Nose is subtle tones of sour lactic yeast and wooden barley wine-like notes; tart caramel if that makes any sense at all? :-P Taste is caramel, wood and resinous hops. Sweet up front, then a resinous bitter hop finish settle in. An OK barley wine but a bit weird and seems kinda "off". Did I get a bad bottle?

Amber pour with light off white head and lace. Aroma is raisins and sweet malt. Flavor of dried fruit, sweet molasses, and a nice finishing bitter. Medium/full bodied with good carbonation. Batch 65

Really nice fruity, malty aroma. Caramel, grains, pleasant sweetness, some alcohol, floral hop aromatics. Pours a dark golden to light amber color, pretty hazy from the yest sediment, massive off-white head with crazy retention. Head persists for a really long time, basically through the whole drink, lots of clumpy lacing. Flavor is strong malt character, caramel, moderately sweet, bready malt, a bit toasty, good deal of fruit character, pear and sweet grapes. Some hop bitterness and flavor, nice warming alcohol. Full body with medium carbonation, smooth on the palate, a bit of tingle from the alcohol. Great brew, lots going on and very tasty.

850th rating. Orange-amber coloured beer. Head should be a bit bigger, but holds pretty decent and sticks nice to the glass. Hoppy, more hops then expected, specially at the smell. But also the sweetness kicks in pretty good at the taste. Malts, caramel and fruity, good fruity. Light biterness at the end. The mouthfeel is prettty good, but a bit more carbonation should to the trick for me. Good beer for sure.

I poured a 12oz bottle into a tulip glass (leaving most of the yeast in the bottle).

Appearance: Beautiful shade of dark amber/orange. Definitely hazy. Forms a surprisingly large, white, frothy head which retains and laces very well for such a potent beer.

Smell: Non-citrus tropical fruits, flowers and Fruity Pebbles cereal. Very light and perfumey.

Taste: I wasn’t sure what to expect with this beer. The bottle describes it as a "special golden ale" which lead to believe it would be something like a Duvel, only stronger. As soon as it hit my palate I knew it definitely wasn’t in the Belgian strong pale ale category. Fred is like drinking thinner, carbonated honey. It is extremely sweet with notes of vanilla, spiced rum, and plenty of hops. It begins with noticeable bitterness, but nothing too absurd. The middle and second half are rich and sweet like syrup and honey and the finish contains a strong alcoholic presence. Between the rich sweetness and bitterness, this beer definitely lingers and dries out the palate.

Fred is definitely a very robust beer, but it’s not a delicious one. Sure, the sweetness is appealing, but it’s cloying, especially as it warms. An acquired taste this beer is.

Mouthfeel: Thick, soft, and sticky with a strong aftertaste of dry bitterness and syrupy sweetness.

Drinkability: Straight out of the fridge, this beer isn’t exactly quaffable, nor is it a sipper. It’s right there in the middle. As it warms and the palate begins to wear down the taste buds and it does becoming difficult to drink in more than a sip at a time. The 10% ABV is very prominent in both the taste and the potency.

Overall, a strange beer, but a good one. Not what I would consider a barley wine (as classified by Rate Beer and Beer Advocate), but it’s hard to peg it down as anything else. I liked it, but one is good enough for me.

330 ml bottle. Batch #77.
Pours a slightly hazy orange colour with a large foamy white head with good retention. Aroma of tropical fruits, raisins and caramel. Flavour of sweet caramel malts, tropical fruits, syrup, mild coriander and some alcohol. Medium/full bodied with a slightly sticky mouthfeel and a warming alcohol finish with some fruits. Pleasant.

Golden with a rocky white head and good lacing. Lots of caramel candy and grain in a big mouthfeel segues to a solid hoppiness that stays just below the surface. Excellent fullness, tasty, a little hoppy, and warm alcohol finsih. Very fine selection.