Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Poured it for my friend, and it was red. Poured it for myself, and ended up with a ton of shit in it. I even had peices of hops in my teeth. Smell is very hoppy, and rich. Taste is similar, with alot of hoppy bitterness coming out but there is a very nice backbone to keep it balanced. Great brew, something I would love to drink time and time again. I drank the 2001 bottle and this one was way better.

Pours a nice red color with a slight tan head. Aroma is nice and hoppy. Flavor is super. You get a nice sweet flavor with a great hoppy finish. Alcohol is not present at all. Beer finishes very smooth.

2005 bottle and it pours a deep copper with a huge freakin’ head...way over carbonated. Nice spicy aroma and taste. Hints of pine, orange, and lemon, but not overbearing. The alchohol warmth slowly sneaks up. Nice beer, but I expected better from HOTD.

2004 bottle. Pours a deep murky red, almost brown color. 1/2" caramel head forms and quickly fizzes away to leave a thin layer atop the beer. Aroma was all malt. Big huge caramel malt....very little hops in the aroma . Flavor is much of the same. You are greeted with a huge malty burst of caramel, toffe and spicey notes. The palate is nice and creamy. The malt is backed up by a nicely balanced bitterness, but it lacked the fruitiness I was expecting from the simcoe and amarillo hops. Alchohol is very well hidden and this beer is extremely drinkable. Overall this beer is awesome, I need to get some more.

Thanks to Brewblackhole for sharing this!Pours a odd beige/tan color with TONS of particles floating around.Has a nice malty/alcohol/hoppy aroma to it.Huge malty flavor that was backed ny a big alcohol flavor.But behind all of that was this bold hop presence.Different.

Bottle - 2005. Poured a amber color with a nice tan head. Nice smell of hops. I found it a little easier to drink than my previous favorite for barely wine (Bigfoot).

Bottled (2003 vintage) Thanks to Gromit. A mahogany brown coloured beer with a decent tan coloured head which settles into a pool. The aroma has big malts as well as the obvious hops. There is alcohol soaked brown bread notes together with raisin fruits. The tste is maore of the same. Has that moussey mouthfeel like some Belgian Strongs or English Barley Wines together with a good dosage of hops. I found it less hoppy though than most of the few US Barley wines I’ve had. There is more bready flavours and raisins. It comes across as slightly sweeter than expected and has a bit of a petrol flavour to it also. Tasty and sippable.

Doggie Claws pours a nice amber color dominated by an orange tint. The head is a monster. The aroma is great as well, with smells of spicy and citrusy hops mixing to create a great deal of anticipation before tasting. The taste is interesting. There is a nice crisp and refreshing taste to this barleywine that is anchored by a good amount of orange zest flavor--not orange, but definitely orange zest. You get some spice as well and a straw like flavor that I have found in every HOTD I’ve had to date. The body is thin for the style, too thin in my opinion. It does make this one go down easily, but that is not what barleywines are all about. "