Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (2003-)

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

2009 bottle Picked up at Full Throttle Bottles. Dark brown in color with a small head that sits around the edge of the top; looks like a great beer to me, but I haven’t had a bad Hair of the Dog. Definitely a strong hop aroma with this thing. Nice pine-type hop aroma. Definitely a subtle sweet malt backing that compliments the pine almost citrus hop flavor. Slight sweet dough aroma. Fairly nuanced beer, but I think some time on this one would really improve the aroma, and bring out those malts a bit more. Definitely get a sweet subtle honey aroma. The sweet honey/malt flavor comes through more to me in the flavor than in the aroma. Hops are still there. Still a subtle pine and slight citrus hop. Pilsner malt is definitely there too. Ah, a nice smooth flavor. Very good offering from Hair of the Dog.

Now this is a winter warmer. Cheeks flushed after drinking. Hoppy aroma. Big hoppy taste and alcohol flavor. Easy to drink despite the 11% alcohol. Might taste even better after a year.

2009 bottle, Smells like caramel. Pours cloudy with yeast and looks like muddy water which is not a dealbreaker, just not very appetizing-looking in a clear glass. Also some raisin notes. Almost no carbonation in stark contrast to the Adam and Fred I had which practically burst from the bottle. Tastes sweet, but not sickeningly so. Finish is bitter with a very slight alcohol tinge. I would like more of these to store for a while and see how it tastes then.

Fresh ’09 bottle. Pours a hazy mahogany with almost no head. Very little carbonation in this. Aroma is largely dominated by floral hops, with a healthy amount of brown sugar and honey, plus some fig like dried fruit. This is a very sweet beer with an alcohol bite that needs to be sipped slowly. It charms me more with each sip (I keep having to adjust my rating). Has a lot of that brown sugar and honey in the flavor, and loads of complex dried fruit flavors (raisin, dried cherry, fig, etc). The sweetness sticks with you throughout the finish, along with resinous bitter hops at the end. This is almost too sweet for me, but it pulls it off. Oddly enough, the flavors remind me a little of 120 minute IPA, which I disliked a lot, but something about Doggie Claws just tastes more "right."

Rating #1700. 2008 Vintage. Bottle thanks to scrizzz. Pours a pretty quiet red-brown with some whitish cover that forms and quickly dies to leave only a couple islands of carbonation recreating their best imitation of continental drift. Aroma is raisins, fruit, caramel, apples, caramel apples, toffee, very sweet, but the potency is apparent. The taste includes more florals, citrusy hops, a slick body, a fruity sweet maltiness, caramel, apples, more raisins and dried fruits, light alcohol finish.

Bottle from 06. Pours a nice amber color but after the huge amount of yeast that came out of the bottom made it look like a white russian. I’ve never seen so much yeast come from a bottle of beer. Has a nice caramel wood smell to it. Taste about the same with a sweet finish but it isn’t to sweet. Another fantastic brew from HotD

Cloudy, deep amber with a very small, soapy, quickly dissipating head. Somewhat faint aroma, mainly honey, mellow hops and nutty malt. Heavy palate, sweet and malty flavor.

This barley wine is my favorite. Hard to get but well worth it. 12 oz bottle bought from Alan at HOTD brewery. The pour is a rich caramel/orange with a nice lacing and off white head. The nose is orange, citrus, pine, toffee, caramel, and sugar. The taste is the same and the barley and hops play well off eachother for a nice balance here. This is truly an amazing beer. Thanks Alan.