Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA

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

Bottle from footbalm shared with Paul and Tom this past Sunday 9/2/07. Poured a cloudy, hazy, golden yellow with a pillowy, small bubbled, white head. Nose is very perfumey with traces of the fresh resinous hops that once existed in this now about a year old ipa. Flavor is still full of tropical fruits, a little citrus, and some good malty flavors as well. Smooth mouthfeel with a slightly bitter finish. Pretty good, but I will be seeking out a fresh bottle next time this is produced.

RBSG 06. Very pale and hazy with white head. The aroma is floral, pine and bready. The flavor is lemon, floral and herbal. Medium/light body with bitter finish.

22 oz bottle, via Dubbercody. Pours a hazy dark gold colored body under a fizzy one finger white head that faded to a thin film. Aroma is all grapefruity and piney hops. There must be some malt in there, but you wouldn’t know it. Flavor is piney and aggressively bitter with some bready and doughy malt. An unusual IIPA in the malt profile, none of the sweet caramel and toffee present in most IIPA’s, though the lack of the jet fuel levels of alcohol are abscent as well thankfully. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with nice soft carbonation and a creamy texture up front that fades to a slightly sticky finish. Overall, a little off-kilter from the norm. Just what I expect from HOTD. This really drank better than it rated though I must say. Keep the awesome beers coming HOTD!

Bottle. Lots of small floaties in this one, messing up the nice golden color a bit. Off-white head. Mostly hoppy aroma, with pines and fruits. The flavor is quite bitter, with fruits, orange, pine, some malt, and peppery hops. Quite carbonated, medium to full mouthfeel. Definately a good beer, but as with many American (I)IPA’s, I miss balance. (070705)

Slight hazy yellow with nice frothe head. Lot’s of fresh hoppy taste. Intesn fruity style with some apple, orange and peach. Nice bitter finish.

Bottle. Pours a deep golden with a thin wispy off-white head that clings to the glass. Piney soapy resinous hops aroma. Flavor is richly sweet, mixture of floral and piney hops with a nice bite. Not overly bitter, but a nice lingering bitterness. Full bodied.

22 oz bottle courtesy of Brock_Landers: John also had this beer on the way to the FSU-Rice game. Poured yellow-orange with a large white head. The aroma to me reminded me of a Hefeweizen. It even looks hefeweizenish. The hops are present but also noticed notes of banana. Maybe from the yeast? Not what I would classify as a double IPA. Moderate hopping and not real malty. Still a nice beer with a different twist to it from the everyday IIPA’s.

Impressively thick and still, with large strands of sediment just floating there near the bottom of the glass. Peach-coloured, which makes me wonder if the apricot notes I detected in the finish were psychosomatic. Nevertheless, there was a fresh fruity presence somewhere in the bitter, almost brackish concoction, with sharp malty notes I’ve come to expect from this brewer. It’s a nice variation on their skull-crushing, heavy, sweet Belgian-style beers, but a bit left-field for my tastes.