Hair of the Dog Fred

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

This $4.50 bottled brew from a bottle shop at the Portland Airport marked batch 68 poured a very large sized head of foamy finely sized off-white colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a very hazy dark orange brown colored body and a fair lacing. The funky aroma was malty spicy and vinous. WOW what an initial rush it was! The mouth feel was strongly tingly at the start and weakly tingly at the finish with a very strong vinous aftertaste initial flavor rush. The stong vinous complex flavor contained notes of malt vinous and heavy brown malt. A wonderful best in class brew.

350 ml bottle. Hazy orange golden with a fizzy white head. Very floral malt, caramel, honey, and alcohol aroma. Thick full body bright palate. Amazingly sweet floral taste with caramel and fruit notes and a nice bitterness to the finish. This is a really great beer.

Bottle/batch 47, so it’s about 5 .5 years old. Strong caramel/toffee/dark sugar aroma. Hazy ripe apricot color with a beige head that filmed. Medium to full bodied. Moderate, creamy, carbonation. The start is moderately dark fruit, caramel/toffee, some molasses and heat. More than ripe plum. All backed up with a pretty decent level of hoppy bitterness. There are suggestions of oaky wood. The finish is astringent. The bitter is present, but not overwhelming. To me it suggests Fullers Vintage Ale, but smoother and with more fruit.

Rating 300, and fitting to invite my old pal Fred. The first HotD beer I ever had, at the Brickskeller, and holds up marvelously. Rare is the barleywine that can seamlessly manifest qualities of both an excellent tripel and a grand cru, but this one sure does. I big body, effervescent to the last, with a pleasantly cloudy look and a rich yeasty aroma. It’s got the fruity tang of a nice tart tripel, but that lovely rich yeast strain that this brewery uses so effectively and some deep dark flavors to round it out - ripe plum, leather, and some notable molasses (this one’s almost 2 years old, maybe this flavor emerges with age). At any rate, a righteous beer!

Pours a slightly hazy orange, slightly flocculent, small foam ring. Aroma of alcohol, faint hops, and sweet syrup (maple?) Strong taste of hops! Very present alcohol in the taste, as well as maple syrup or brown sugar, some light fruitiness (pear?) and a slight astringency. Hoppy, tart, warm finish. Thin body and subtle carbonation. Overall, this was very pleasantly spicy and fruity - complex and interesting beer!

On tap at The Alembic in San Francisco. Hazy orange with a massive yellowish head displaying eternal retention and generating thick ropey lace. Silky soft, full bodied, a little yeasty, with peach, pear, orange, and Christmas candy spice all showing up through the palate. A beautiful dessert sipper!

12oz. Bottle: Aroma is very sweet. Smells of malts, dark fruits, candy sugar, and Cabernet. Poured a dark copper color with a huge, foamy, creamy, tan head that lasted throughout. Good lacing. Cloudy. Opaque. Lots of particles of varying sizes. Flavor is heavily sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malts, dark fruits, piney hops, toasting, alcohol, and caramel. Medium to full body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Short malty finish. Overall, good, but I prefer a hoppier Barley Wine.

Bottle at Cafe Volo. pours a DEEP mahogany/caramel color. Nose is big on malt, and caramel. flavour is much of the same. The alcohol warms my throat as it goes down, just a superb sipping barley wine.