Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2001-2002)

Formerly brewed at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Cloudy, light golden ale with a small, creamy, white head. The aroma is of buttermilk, caramel and toffee. The flavor matches the aroma. Medium-bodied with a dry mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Short, dry, astringent finish. Very nice brew!

2001 vintage, 1.5L magnum. Extremely full nose, with notes of pine resin, orange, pineapple, tangerine, peach, pepper, tea leaves, fresh yeast, spicy hop, honeyish sweetness and a certain amount of medicinal phenols. Unique. Solidly opaque burnt-orange coloration, heavily sedimented, truly copious amounts of off-white foam, bubbles of all sizes, thickly coating the glass in sheets and lasting for the duration of the bottle. Malty, tangy and sweet up front, becoming more complex, fruity, spicy, citric and alcoholic, while deep into the flavor hints of bready grain emerge before the musty, warming, juicy, dry, peppery and alcoholic finish. Some pronounced acidity and bitterness on the palate, which is also somehow effervescent and sticky. Just very different and even after drinking quite a bit of it I would never have guessed it was a Barleywine. Cheers to davesarman for this herculean bottle of ale.

I'm definitely going to agree with mreeves on overcarbonation. The bottle foamed over upon uncapping, if I would have had a corked bottle, I'm sure I could have shot the cork a mile. This brew has a Fraken-head, it keeps growing, to a point of riduculousness. Rocky, creamy head, looks like a root beer float. Bittersweet hoppy aroma, cascade I think, typical of PNW brews. Only slightly hazy appearance. A fair amount bubbles. An amber/orangey color. Irony off-flavor almost over powers the hops. Alcohol is there but not overpowering.

Almost overcarbonated, difficult to control the head. Hops definitely dominate the aroma and the flavor, but the bottle-conditioning gives it a wonderful, Belgian quality. Orangey color, quite tasty. Deceiving strength.

2002 12oz Bottle As with the other two beers from this brewery that I've tried, this one also poured with a huge amount of foam. Had to wait a few minutes to get the whole bottle in a glass. Anyway, huge frothy head on a cloudy unfiltered orangish golden brew. Retention couldn't be better. Smooth medium body and carbonation evens out quickly. Aroma of cookie dough, sweetmalt and a good dose of hops. Even though this is not to style, it's an excellent beast in my opinion. Flavor is fantastic, doughy malt and grapefruit with a hoppy sweet flavor like an Imperial IPA. Wow I wish I had more of this stuff. Thanks Jeffin7!

(Bottle) Bottled in 2002. Pours a huge, frothy, white, non-dissipating head and a cloudy, orange body. Full-on carbonation. Nose of floral, slightly tinny hops and spice - more the scent of an Abbey Tripel than barleywine? The flavour, however, is spiced, sweet peach with a tart finish. Very nice. Thanks to Argo0 for the hook-up...

Really thick lasting head. Lots of floral hops flavors. reminded me more of bell's two hearted ale than any barley wine ive had.

Barleywine with a head? What a concept. And what a head. This is a shame there are some incredibly delicious rich malt and hop flavors here that are totally destroyed by the most basic homebrew fuck-up mouth-puckering off-flavors.