Hair of the Dog Little Dog (Adam)

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Traditional Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

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On tap at the tasting room. Pours dark brown with a compact, foamy white head. The appearance is pretty dark, only shades of mahogany are visible when you hold it up to the light, otherwise from the right angle this looks like normal Adam. Aroma is grassy hops and peat. Normal Adam smokiness is apparent underneath the herbal contribution from hops. Does not have the deep, complex malt flavors normal Adam does, just the smoke. Flavor is bitter, slightly chocolate and malty with a prickly mouthfeel from the hops and smoke. Fairly light bodied. This is certainly the hoppiest little dog I can remember having. Interesting and very different than regular Adam.

My Bottom Line:
Resinous hops and light, earthy malts surround discreet fruit and straightforward yeast flavors.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the turbid reddish brown.
-This is not nearly as interesting as the best Mild Ales or Bitters out there. Then again, it might not have been in the best condition either. It’s hard to tell. The first glasses from this keg were nearly all yeast...
-Adam’s complex malts are sadly impossible to identify.
-Wooden hop bitterness is much higher than expected.

On tap at the Siboire, in Sherbrooke.

Verre de 10 oz, d’un fût au Siboire. Arômes de malt légèrement torréfiés et fumés et de houblons terreux et boisés. Robe brunâtre très trouble, peu de mousse et effervescence moyenne. En bouche, le houblonnage se montre très présent mais pas particulièrement attrayant, contribuant des notes terreuses et épicées. Il y a également beaucoup de levure en suspension, ce qui engendre une certaine astringence et diminue la fraîcheur des autres saveurs. Le malt, très svelte, apporte des notes torréfiées et chocolatées. Finale relativement amère de houblon terreux. Je m’attendais à beaucoup plus de cette bière.

3 oz. sample at Hair of the Dog tasting room, pours a dark amber / orange brown with a small off-white head. Aroma of leather, dry rye malt and maybe some horse blanket. Flavour of dry rye malt, leather and quite a musty, dirty note on the finish. Smooth, but with a bitter finish. My least favourite of the Little Dogs (thus far). Decent.

12oz pour at HotD. Pours a hazy, brown colr with a big light tan head and lots of lacing. Aroma is malty, bread. Medium on the palate with soft, creamy carbonation. Flavor is sweet, malty, smokey, nutty, with a nice smokey finish that lingers. Very tasty, and at 3.2%, very drinkable.

On tap at the brewery. Pours a dark red color with a medium white head. A sweet malty nose with distinct fruity hops. The flavor is rich earthy and malty, a bit thin, light earthy fruity hops. Enjoyable.

At hotd with Carla. Pours chocolate brown with off-white foam. Smells warm of malts. Tastes lightly bitter with hints of coffee. Feels very thin.

On tap @ Hair of the Dog. Clear amber brown with a beige head that leaves some lacing. Aroma of toast and bread dough with light smoke and herbal hops. Flavor is more toasty malt with a mellow hop bitterness. Light body with average carbonation and a slightly watery mouth feel. Pretty good session beer, nice and light but full of flavor.

Draft @ brewpub: Deep pumpernickel. Staggering nose of Toffifay candy, bread crust, pipe tobacco, candied pecans, cacao nibs, vibrant peat, molasses and prunes. Robust wafting of earthy hops, as well. Firm prickles of carbonation. Soft earthy malt gives way to a voluptuously layered toffee-glazed nuttiness and earthy peat-and-pipe-tobacco fusion. Malt persists and lends a bread crust bitterness which mirrors the pungent but clean apricot-tinged hop punch. Whispers of smoke reverberate gracefully beneath the beefy malt. Surreally complex, yet immensely quaffable due to the delicate underlying maltiness as well as a nice counterpoint of hop acids, molasses-doused prunes and polished esters. Malt continues to blanket the palate, bolstering the endless layers of grassy peat and pipe tobacco with dabs of cacao nibs and dry chocolate. The divine texture of the malt, with its soft and sumptuous nut-and-vanilla-cookie interplay, cannot be overstated. Gorgeous marriage of gentle char and gritty caramelized sugar comprise the finish. Take Adam, one of the world’s most flavorsome and characterful beers, and reduce it to circa 4% while achieving the same astonishing complexity? This is a masterpiece of low-gravity brewing, and an extraordinary accomplishment. I’m gonna have to move Portland.

lock it in! thanks bvc! little cherry, little oaky nose. some smoke. dark chestnut, small white head. gentle smoky body, little red delicious apple, mild milk caramel, smoky finish, killer brah