Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA

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

22 oz. bottle, from Liquid Solutions. Pours hazy golden-amber color with a creamy white head and lots of little floaties. Aroma is pungent and hoppy, juicy citrus with orange, lemon and grapefruit especially prominent along with spruce and not-quite ripe summer fruits. Flavor is hoppy, hoppy most noticibly grapefruit rind, pine needles, and pepper with toasty and toffee malt well in the background. Full body and smooth, gentle carbonation. Hops galore!

Beer #13 RBSG 06. At this point, the sheer amount of good, hard to find stuff that was floating around and being poured had become rather stunning. Light lemon gold, a bit hazy. Pine and grapefruit aroma, spicy hops. Flavor was a combination of biscuit malts loads of spicy, bitter hops on the finish. Not bad, but somehow wanted more. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps more malt?

Bottle. One of the most interesting IIPA’s I’ve tried. Appearance is like that of an unfiltered hefeweizen- pale cloudy straw colored. Huge, hoppy aroma w/ that metallic/acidic nose that you get from some of the HOTD brews. HUGE head. Flavor is complex. A little watered-down. Don’t know if I like the interpretaton of the style, but it’s definitely interesting and worth a try.

Draught @ Brouwer’s Cafe during Hopfest 2005: Dirty golden, hazy, moderate white foamy white head, wonderful lacing, lively carbonation.   Assertive hop nose, mildly sweet.   Hoppy start, very slight touch of tobacco, with a very soft hop backside.   The 100 IBUs dont seem to translate as being overly hoppy.   Big malt finish, very soft lingering hop that I expected to be a bit bigger.   Certainly good, very palatable, but not as big as I hoped.   Big body, moderate to full mouthfeel.   A bit too dangerous perhaps.

Another idiosyncratic HOTD offering. Cloudy rather pale gold offering covered by a lasting white foam. Heterogeneous blend of belgianesque fruity esters and hop derivated fruitiness makes for a complex aromatic garden. Strong backing malts appear rather crisp, biscuity like pale tea cookies and naturally pairing with the doughy yeast. Grassy developments do offer a contrast to the otherwise exotic fruitiness. Comfortable, smooth, expansive carbonation is engaging while the body stays medium-full despite an advanced attenuation level. Certainly not the most focused example, but fully original and pleasantly tweaked. It’s stunning how this is full of surprises, yet doesn’t surprise us just by knowing who’s behind the bar.

Bottle. Pours pale yellow with almost no head, just a whisp of white. Aroma is of citrus, grapefruit, lemon,some spices. This is bitter, mostly hops, very citrusy, some yeast/cloves. This got better as warmer, very harsh at first, but smoothed out along the way. This is an interesting IIPA, not like any other I have had before.

Pours hazy yellow straw with a foamy white head, lasting and lined lacing. Aroma is huge hops (citrus, floral, pine), doughy yeast, straw and hay, meal and cereal malt, grassy finish. Moderately bitter and acidic piney and floral hops, malt and yeasty cardboard flavor, alcohol notes at the end. Medium bodied and fizzy, dry and chalky palate.

Thanks to Goldtwins for sharing this! Pours a clear orange that holds up an average sized sticky white head. Citrus dominates the aroma with a good malt back up in the distance. Lots of malt, but the hop bitterness over rides it in this brew. Stays nicely bitter all the way through to a good dry finish.