Hair of the Dog Fred

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

Serve in Snifter

Most complex and exuberant flavor for any blonde/golden ale. Interesting thick with fruitiness

Serving: 12 oz. bottle from Pinocchios. It pours a hazy amber color with a thin off white head. The nose is potent and hits you as you open the bottle. Fruity at first with dark caramel, dough, and alcohol notes on further inspection. Very smooth and rich on the palate. Tons of flavor. White raisin, caramel, brown sugar, a little chocolate, and warming alcohol on the back end. Some hop presence but no real bitterness. Perhaps a touch on the sweet and hot side but still worth seeking out. I would love to age a few of these.

Bottle @ bros house from Bottleworks. Cloudy, yellow orange appearance with a lively, orangish white head. Big golden pils aroma and lots of german hops in the nose. Quite strong, quite sweet, pils, pale lager flavor with a strong German hoppy presence. More like an imperial pils than a barley wine. Nothing super special but still tasty.

On tap @ Pizza Port San Clamente (2008 vintage). Clear copper brew with a good amount of off-white head. Nose is extremely malty with lots of caramel and toffee, nice pine hops as well. Very sticky mouthfeel with tons of malt and resiny hops. Very nice Barley Wine and extra cool that it was the 08 vintage.

Batch number 81. A- Extremely carbonated, I did what the bottle said and poured slowly, a lot of good that did, 4 finger frothy white head that does not dissipate, once you get passed that this is a nice looking beer, nice lacing on the sides, clear bubbly appearance, golden yellow color. S- The aroma is nice, sweet, malts, some citrus notes, spice, and caramel. T- Big spice flavors coming out, sweet, some breadiness from the malts, interesting beer, some caramel and toffee comes out as well. M- Light/Medium mouth feel, extremely carbonated, smooth and refreshing. O- I had to wait a while for the head to settle which it never did, so I had to work my way through the foam before I could enjoy the beer. Overall pretty tasty, easy drinkability, the alcohol is present but does not take away from the experience.

On tap at Hair of the Dog tasting room, pours pale cloudy orange with small white lacing. Aroma of oranges, peaches, tropical fruits and a light hint of cherry. Flavour of tropical fruits, nice malt sweetness and a light hop finish. Fruity, bright, medium complexity.

Great beer overall. I was not expecting the balance that this beer has. My bottled poured rather vigorously, probably due to the bottle conditioning. It tasted very malty with the sweet candy sugar creating a good balance of flavor. It is a very interesting approach to a beer. It is very rich tasting. I will be getting a few more bottles.

pours a light brown. aroma is toffee, nice hop balance, and caramel. taste is caramel, toffee malts, raisins and a hint of chocolate. palate is smooth with a medium mouthfeel. a pretty decent barley wine but not the best.