Hair of the Dog Fred

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

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!

bottle, batch 65 Hazy orange/amber colour. OK head. Sweet toffee and caramel aroma with a brief touch of oranges. Thick and very sweet (too sweet) toffee flavour. Bitter hop and alcohol finish.

Pours a hazy amber. Full flavored. Dry with aromas of malts, hops and fruits. Sour hint of raisins. Dry finish. Tiny hint of funghi. Low carbonation.

I think I got this from Santa. Or was it Drew? Either way, this is the first beer I rated in my new place (and #400!) Deep cloudy orange/gold. A bit of yeast managed to stay on the head and it reminds me of the color that the scumbags who lived here before me left the ceiling. God knows how much they smoked. But primer/paint (and hours of work) covers all.. I don’t really want to review this beer, I just want to look back at this and remember how nice it feels to be in my own place. How rewarding it is to look around and see the results of weeks of labor. Cheers.

12 ounce bottle. Batch 60. Murky tawny orange with a creamy beige head. A total minajory of pine, spice and resin. Nicely blended flavors. The betterness is mild, yet it demands attention. Creamy palate. Long finish. Good stuff.

Bottle from JasonMech77. Cloudy, brown body with a medium-sized, off-white head. The aroma is vinous, with lots of toffee and brown sugar sweetness and some herbal hops. The flavor is much less sweet than the nose, caramel, very light roast, some bread, herbal and citrus hops with a bit of alcohol. Medium/full body is soft with moderate carbonation and a warm finish. Very nice, but just a bit too boozy.

Pours a light brown color with a slight off white head. Aroma is of sweet malts caramel, nutty notes with some bitter hops. Flavor is sweet with some woody, nutty notes. Finishes with some bitter hops and alcohol. Kind of a thin mouthfeel.

Batch 72. Pours orange with a thin off white head. Sweet malt aroma with caramel and candy sugar. The flavor has dark fruits, sweet caramel, candy sugar, and just a touch of floral hops. Smooth and enjoyable. 7/3/8/4/16
Batch 63 Pours red amber with an off white head. Sweet caramel malt aroma. The flavor is malt dominated and lightly sweet with caramel, a hint of toast and toffee. 7/3/7/4/15
I prefer the balance of a fresher batch.