Hair of the Dog Fred

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

Brother Jeff brought several bottles to our family reunion is Colorado. Big collection of favorite childhood flavors: carmel, malt, honey, dates, and that old fashioned herbal candy melded with some nice bitter hops and alcohol. Great for a barley wine.

Bottle, thanks scrizzz! Foam rises out of the bottle, and a massive creamy bubbly head builds on top of a clear amber. Aroma is an odd mix of sweet caramely and sugary malts, spices, alcohol, apples and a slight sour note. Flavour is pretty massive. Loads of malt sweetness going on, but also a spicy bitter finish. Fairly big alcohol finish. Carbonation is pretty fizzy, way more than I like in a beer this big. Perhaps the bottle is infected? Not sure. Didn’t like this all that much. Hot, and not really all that pleasant.

Bottle shared by shawnm213- thanks, Shawn! Pours a hazy amber color with an absolutely massive off-white head that never stopped coming out of the bottle. We tried it side-by-side with Fred from the Wood. Aroma of sweet malt, honey, caramel, raisin, hops, brown sugar, and alcohol. The flavor followed suit nicely, with notes of maple in addition to the above. Medium-full bodied, with warming alcohol. This is a nice barley wine, and like Shawn pointed out, like a toned-down version of FFTW, so it makes sense that this is the base beer.

12 oz bottle, batch 75, poured on 11/30/09. Pours hazy dark gold/orange with beautiful one-finger eggshell head that lingers. Aroma of vanilla, cardamom, caramel with undertones of lavender and earth. Medium body with incredibly smooth carb. Rich sweet honey up front, then a mild dry earthy bitter finish. Palate is fantastic except for a hint of booziness. Incredibly balanced and complex brew, but could probably use a bit of age to cool the hotness.

bottle from trade with wavers1- thanks baker! pours a golden orange with a big foamy offwhite head. Tasted side by side with fred from the wood. way different beers. everything about this beer was seemed to be a less extreme version of fred from the wood. the fruit, hops, and booze were all much more muted, which actually led to this being significantly more quaffable. The fred from the wood was more exciting. Both freds could likely benefit from additional time in the old closet. who knows.

12 oz bottle shared by MrPickles - Nice amber pour with an off-white head. Aroma is tons of honey and a bit of booze, sweet malt, caramel, and toffee. Taste is sweet caramelly malt, honey, that transition into light herbal, grassy, and spicy flavors. The whole thing smooths out nicely on the finish, and it feels smooth and velvety in the mouth. My second HotD beer...mighty impressive.

From a bottle poured a hazy straw color with a good amount of head. Nice strong malty sweet flavor with a quick finish.

19th August 2008. Hazy amber beer. Low carbonation. Sweet start with subtle peach and red fruit tones under the rapidly blooming hops which are juicy, smooth and strong. More peach and red fruit in the finish. Spicy aftertaste. Very tasty and very moorish.