Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

WOW! this was the first WTF is this beer for me in quite awile. Many thanks to black95tt for this one! i actually had to interrupt the phone conversation (imagine that) with slob when I had the first sip. This is a roller coaster ride of a beer. Te oakiness in the nose is fantastic. With that as a prelude you had better be ready for the rest of the glass my friend, so buckle up and keep your head and arms withinn the ride at all times. Crisp upfront and biting body rolls all over your mouth and arouses questions about humanity that were buried deep.....deep within the bowels of the earth and defended by mother nature herself. To be scientific, and pick this beer apart is against its nature. If you have more than one of these gems in your cellar, defend it with all you hold dear.

batch ¤ 64. Sweet, caramel, toffe and alcohol aroma. Nice head for a beer with this abv. Light amber colour with smallbubbled carbonation. Flavour is sweet, fruity and malted with plenty of hops and oakbarrel in the end. Filling and "heavy" with lots of residual sugar, to the point where it makes your lips stick together. Nice one.

Thanks to cbkschubert for tis pour. Caramel color with frothy off-white head. Nose of sweet dried fruit with toffee. Flavor is sweet and malty with the wood catching up at the end. Nice little touch of hops which is balanced great with the malt. Nice warm alcohol on the lips.

Bouteille – batch 64, courtoisie de Blankboy. De couleur ambrée orange et voilée. Nez boisé (fût de chêne), malté de caramel sucré, légèrement terreux et de sucre brun (notes de sirop d’érable et de toffee), moyennement fruité (léger de raisins vineux et de cerises aux notes sûres) et d’alcool avec des notes de vanille, de fumée de cigarette, de houblon herbeux (notes terreuses) et d’épices (poivre). Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-bas et une texture liquoreuse et légèrement crémeuse. Goût assez boisé (fût de chêne, bien présent en arrière-goût toute la gorgée), fruité (léger de raisins aux notes vineuses, cerises vieillies aux note sûres ainsi que des notes d’agrumes et de pêche) et léger de vanille lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté sucré de caramel aux notes terreuses, léger de sucre brun et avec des notes de pain parallèlement à un goût moyennement amer d’alcool moyen, liquoreux (whisky) et réchauffant ainsi qu’un goût de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques (pamplemousse) puis en finale, on distingue un goût de fumée de cigarette légèrement asséchant ainsi que des notes épicées (poivre). Post-goût long, moyennement amer d’alcool liquoreux et moyen de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques, assez boisé (fût de chêne) et légèrement fruité (moût de raisins et de cerises).

Pours a burnt orange with a tan head. Aroma is sweet toffee and caramel with a earthy and oak aroma to it. Some spices comes out at the very end of a long sniff. First sip was sampled far too cold and little flavor except the oak was decetable. After warming up some this beer really comes into its own. I can definatley say that the wood character is amazing here and the oak is a wonderful focus point of the brew. However, there is a toffee and caramel sweetness about the whole thing that is just amazing. Hops are not nearly as present in this barleywine as normal, is this even really a barleywine? Still, the hops are more for bittering versus flavor and present themselves nicely with a bittering finish.

Lovely warm orange pour, sticky cream head leaving lace all over the glass and lingering in a nice skim. At first sniff, freshly turned mulch, medicine, bile. Further inquiry reveals vanilla, smoke, toasted sugar, wet fresh-sawn oak boards, cloves. Lively, rough, interesting. And now a sip. An army of wood ants appear on my tongue, each give a tart nip, then are replaced with a molasses sweetness, slowly fading to a vapory, smokey finish. Lingering tannins coat the mouth. As the glass progresses, the riot of flavors move toward cherries and vanilla. What an intense beer! My mouth is slightly confused and frightened, but I like it. Thanks so much for sharing this one Hezron!

Bottle: Dirty caramel, hazy, large foamy off-white head, clumpy lacing, soft carbonation.   Strong woody aroma, quite sweet.   Sweet malty start, very oakish on the tongue.   Good balance of hop bitterness and malt sweetness.   Oak aspect is strong, yet fits well with the style and this particular beer.   This is too easy to drink.   Oak lovers, or even Cedar lovers, will really enjoy this beer.   Its odd, the wood seems like a cross between the aformentioned Oak and Cedar.   As a Barley Wine, it seems very soft, yet robust.   Simple, yet quite divine.   The wood carries this one from start to finish, and is the strongest factor.   For a young Barley Wine its very palatable.   It would be interesting to see how age affects this one.   As is, its quite pleasant and quite clean.   Thanks Bill for the bottles!

Batch 64 with a big thanks to Brock_Landers. Pours murky orange with a large head. Fair lacing. Huge aroma of oak with some sour grapes. I’d even say bretty, but it seems like I would be in the minority.
Taste bring up the sourness over the wood. Also tasted a little toffee and vanilla. A bit vinious. Flavor is heavily sour and moderately sweet. Alcohol is well covered. Tangy texture. Super tasty.