Hair of the Dog Fred

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

Draught at Popeye’s in Tokyo. Light amber color, malt, caramel and hops aroma. Clean, rich, excellently balanced flavor. Smooth, silky palate. Not too much of anything--amazingly well put together. One of the best barley wines I have had.

12oz bottle, batch 71, poured into a tulip. Pours a deep, clear amber which shines bright orange when held up to light. The head is very small, off-white and hangs around for a bit as a collar with good lacing. The aroma is big on caramel malts but with plenty of floral and grassy hops in the nose as well. There is also a musty fruit sweetness that mixes with the booze with a bready character throughout. The taste follows the aroma and has a generous caramel and bready malt backbone with lots of alcohol soaked fruit. There is more of an earthy hop presence in the taste as opposed to citrus hops. The finish definitely has the hop bitterness I was expecting. The mouthfeel is sticky sweet with less than moderate carbonation, leaving the palate coated with the tastes. This is a very good barleywine with an interesting hop profile on top of a musty sweetness with plenty of alcohol burn. Good but not great for me.

Draught at Toronado SD. Was this a little sweeter and syrupy than your typical barley wine, yes. Was this the most easy drinking barley wine I have ever tried, yes. Is this where people who claim to think barley wines are too much should start, yes. I would gladly order this again any day.

Pour a hazy amber color with a thick white head. Aroma of bitter citrus hops, carmel, and a little rye. flavor of bitter hops, carmel, sweet fruit, and a little smoke from the rye malt. mouthfeel is creamy sweet, and just a little syrupy. while not among the top tier of barley wines, this is still a excellent beer

12oz bottle from City Beer Store in SF. Good barleywine but didn’t blow me away. Hazy amber color with a huge, thick white head. Aroma is caramel malt and citrusy hops. Sweet malts, light fruity flavors, and citrusy west coast hops. Well rounded with a nice creamy mouthfeel. Recently also had a 1998 magnum-size bottle at a beer tasting event. Ages well and really changes over time. Aroma and flavor become very sweet and a bit cidery with port notes, hop bitterness is minimal. Update again: had it again on tap at City Beer. Awesomeness! Darker in color, sort of a cloudy copper. Huge sweet caramel malt flavor with roast, brown sugar, and honey stands out. Complex hop character. Very smooth and fairly full palate.

The first bottle of Fred I had was suicidal, and jumped out of the fridge to his demise when my wife was looking for water next to him. A big thanks to avengedpoet for snagging me another bottle, Fred is no longer dead. Pours a slightlysyrupy hazy caramel color with a small bubbly white head. Aroma is caramel and malt forward with a lot of hop aromas, citrus, caramel and some rye. Flavor is caramel, subdued yet still bitter hops, lilac, sugars, spices, fruits, almost smoky. Bitter floral syrupy finish, quite complex too. Fantastic beer.

Great flavors but amazing sweetness. Was not expecting a barley wine based on the bottle, but thats an accurate label. I really wish they had coaxed the yeast to eat up some more sugar and make another % or 2 in abv, but the sweetness is ok. Excellence in malting, cant really put my finger on why this got a < 4, but its not quite there.

What a colour-far beyond golden as the bottle suggests...bright glowing amber orange with bubbles visibly riding skyward to a heavy thick head of foam. Alluring smell of pumpkin, glazed carrots, yams, soda candy, blood orange, brandy-soaked tangerines...good lord! Mouthfeel is so creamy, slightly syrupy, but also incredibly light. Complex flavours abound: cinnamon, smoke, figs, lilac, sweet pine, strong tea. Finish is sweet and lingers gently, leaving a touch of syrupy booze sweetness on the lips. This is a remarkable beer that deserves to be a lifelong classic...it almost has a hallucinogenic, mythical appeal. Is this what Nina Simone had in mind when she sang of "Lilac Wine"?