Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA

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

22oz. bottle from the brewery. Aroma simply bursts with fresh citrus, plenty of juicy grapefruit and tangerine, with further notes of pine, freshly-picked leafy herbs and flowers, along with hints of pale, grainy, honeyish malts. Hazy medium golden color with a lasting, creamy head and fine lace sheeting the glass. Flavor is very softly sweet and floral up front, but sees the hops increase in intensity thereafter, becoming more dominant and reaching a crescendo at the finish where the sweetness is thoroughly overridden by bitter hop resins and citric, resinous, leafy hop flavor. Some faint lemony spice from the rye and fading hints of peach. Overall, mouthfeel is semi-dry, oily and smoothly effervescent, body is medium-full. Lip-smackingly hoppy aftertaste. Refreshing and drinkable. Nicely done.

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium yellow. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain), moderately hoppy (grapefruit, lemon/orange, herbs), lightly yeasty (dough), with a note of medicine. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Me like, surprisingly. It’s kind of like Ruth times 4 or whatever...very clean bitterness without the abrasive, tongue-scraping qualities of a typical west-coast IPA. Likewise in the hop aroma, it’s fruity/citrusy without being overly green, pungent, and resinous. Slightly phenolic (kinda cool), slightly yeasty (eh).

Pours a cloudy golden, medium head with a little lacing. Hop aroma is floral, lots of honey and a little pine. Taste is full bitter hops, fruitiness doesn’t come through as much until the finish. Mild sweetness, light spiciness and mineral taste. Finish is long and hoppy. Body on this one is great, moderatly malty and pretty frothy

(22oz bottle, thanks Goldtwins) Cloudy apple juice body with medium white head. Aroma is medium sweet, pine/grapefruit, some orange. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit, grassy, sharp bitterness. Chewy medium-full body. Malt? We don’t need no stinkin’ malt!

Very hazy pale gold color with a huge fluffy white head. Fresh hop pellet nose. Tons of malt in the IIPA. It is not the hop soup that most IIPAs try to be. Lots of toffee and dark caramel sweetness under a complex hop bitterness of pine resin and red grapefruit. Well balanced. I feel every bit of the 7%.

Large painted bottle. Orange blonde color. Lemongrass aroma. A sharp and firm hopbitterness with loads of grapefruit and grassy herbal hops. Medium bodied. Very long earthy citric hopbitter aftertaste. A very intense beer. I really liked it.

Any first impressions?
-A veil of foam shields the hazy, honeyed gold.
-Confident pineapple esters coagulate into a unique fruity honey which lets itself be penetrated by some agile piney hops.
-Sandy hoppiness lays a dry foundation on the tongue for the haystacks to sit; fruity cereal is abundant.
-The soft yet expansive effervescence is typical of Hair of the Dog, particularly when paired with their usual creamy maltiness.

What if you dig deeper?
-The herbal, peppery hop bitterness, apart from being flavorful, is certainly intriguing.
-Biscuity maltiness is a great companion to the idiosyncratic hop selection.
-I probably wouldn’t have called an Imperial IPA, but if you know and like the vivid, bright personality of Alan Sprints’ gambrinal creations, you will be seduced once again by this one.

Bottle; no date.

Murky dark amber color with a cotton candy nose. Full bodied. Caramel, cotton candy, grapefruit and candy apples all grace the mouth. Moderately sweet with a nice bitter finish.