Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Portland, Oregon USA

Pours a bright hazy golden orange with very little head. Retention and lacing are minimal. Smell of citrus explodes out of the bottle when the cap is popped. Orange, lemon, and grapefruit all over the place with a light, sweet malt aroma as well, but it’s really a citrus hop sensory assault. Taste is of citrus hops as well, but with less aggression than the aroma. Mainly grapefruit in the taste this time with a little more bready malt sweetness than the smell as well. I finally got a little pine bitterness in the finish, but this one was on the sweeter side of DIPAs. Mouthfeel is light to medium with strong carbonation. Very smooth and sweet and doesn’t have the over-the-top bitterness that I often get in West Coast DIPAs. This one is uber drinkable, especially as the weather warms up. It’s not nearly as intense as many DIPAs but that smooth taste makes it all the more drinkable.

Draft. Aroma of grapefruit and some pine and a hint of orange peel. The hop bitterness quickly gives way to an undertone of malts, leaving a distinct sweet orange profile. Full to medium body and adequately carbonated to keep it from feeling syrupy. At first I thought this a bit too sweet for a double IPA, but after several more sips realized the balance between bitter and sweet is what I liked about the beer. The brew only hints at its alcohol content. Overall, a nicely done double IPA.

Cloudy burnt sienna in color with a thin white head. Fresh wet hop aroma. Citric hop burn in the flavor, slightly tangy but with a rich, savory malt undercurrent. Very good.

On tap at Horse Brass in Portland. Glad they had it, because Liquid Solutions ran out quickly! Heavenly hop aroma...bitter hops are prominent in the taste. Big fan. This over the top hoppy IPA is just my style. Nice creamy texture with just enough sweetness.

Shared by Nolankowal at the last Columbus tasting. Blue Dot poured a light golden color with a nice white head. The aroma was very floral, and hoppy. The taste was interesting--plenty of spicey hops, good bitterness, but no real malt presence to speak of.

A highly floral aroma, lavender like. The body is a clear golden yellow lacking much of any kind of head. Taste is bitter, as expected, and of a floral nature, rather dry and acidic.

(22 oz. bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=2 target=blank>OhioDad, thanks Scott!) Sweet and piney...Pours rather hazy light yellowish-amber. Gets downright cloudy by end of bottle. About one finger of soft white head that mostly stays around. Aroma of pine and grapefruit, maybe a little vanilla, kind of sweet and sour. Mouthfeel kind of soft, smooth. Nice heavy lacing. Flavor is the pine along with malt sweetness and a hint of sour, a bit of grapefruit. Some bitterness overlays which lingers into the aftertaste. Gave me a pretty fair buzz for only a 7% beer.

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser II. Hazy gold pour with a small fizzy white head. The aroma is lots of hops, a bit of malt, pine and grapefruit peel. Flavor is very grapefruity with grapefruit peel and pine on the finish. Seriously delicious IIPA.