Hair of the Dog Fred

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

Bevuta al ma che siete venuti a fà.... niente da dire... probabilmente il miglior barley wine ke abbia mai assaggiato..

It pours dark, almost like the Belgian candi sugar it contains in liquid form. Ther is a frothy white beautiful head on top. The ABV is not smooth on the palate and the hops are very subtle. It has sweet and malty flavors balanced nicely as well.

Batch 77 Hazy orange with tons of sediment. Huge pillowy head that never completely goes away, tons of bubbly lace. Very sweet bready, grapefruity and peachy aroma - but relatively light. Very thick and fluffy feel, high carbonation. Slight alcoholy bite to start, with citrussy bitterness. Goes into sweet bready, peachy, and then ends in a little bit of a grassy hop bite. Yeast adds a little funk throughout the palate and some phenol notes. Great complex beer, alcohol is definitely evident - lots of pepper in the finish, but not overwhelming.

12oz capped, batch 9. Opens with very faint sound of carbonation. Pours much darker in color than other, newer, batches of Fred I have had. Crystal clear light amber/toffee with a golden tint to it. Basically still carbonation with just a few singular bubbles around the edges of my glass. Nose is sweet with malty toffee, caramel and honey. Also a good amount of breadiness with moderate signs of oxidation...white port, a touch of leather and faint tobacco leaf. Some earthiness in there as well...like some pine, cedar and damp hay. Feels somewhat thin at first due to basically no carbonation, but as it makes it way around my palate it becomes slightly syrupy and sticky. Tobacco, sweet candied dark fruit, honey, biscuity up front and in the middle. More of the white port comes out toward the end as well as the tobacco notes. This beer is nothing like it is when fresh and I am not sure where this beer hits the ’sweet spot’ for me, but I am learning. Listed over on HotD as being bottled 7-1-98...pretty damn amazing really. Alan makes kick ass beer!

Bottle. Peach, malt and peppery alcohol aroma. Orange amber color with gigantic head and nice lacing. Sweet orange/peach, light barley malt flavor - alcohol and white pepper finish. Great beer.

Pours a hazy orange brown, with a great, lacy head. Aroma is sweet malt and spicy hops, cedar. Flavor-peppery rye, blood orange, alcohol, sweet and lively. Aftertaste is well balanced hops, a perfect juxtaposition to the fruity malty sweetness.

Clear orange body topped by a creamy tanned head. Aroma is mostly nice too with light alcohol molasses and fresh tobacco. Some sweet dough in there as well. Flavor is heavy sweet and yeasty. Moderately bitter. Medium to full body; soft and syrupy mouth feel. This was some heavy shit, man! Maybe a re-rate candidate on a less comprehensive night. (Bottle, courtesy of tarjei 12.12.2009)

Bottle from Whole Foods (Houston/Bowery) NYC. Bold amber body with thin, hoppy top. Malty and barly nose. Nice and warm toasty taste, with sweet fruits, molasses and caramel. Very taste and warms towards the end. High ABV noticeable at the end.