Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

Cloudy orange color. Smell of bourbon, smoked wood, orange, appricots, caramel, prunes, hops and alcohol. Taste of sweet fruit, bourbon, hops and minor citrus. It also has a smoke flavor that tastes like bar smoke. Very different. A sweet bitterness at the end that lingers.

BATCH NUMBER 64! dark orange in color. nice fluffy off white head. Aroma of frresh lumber and alcohol. Fresh apples and grapes, sweet malt, maybe other light berries. Creamy texture with a EXTREMELY dry finish. Flavors of smoke or charcoal. Very thick texture. Lots of smoked oak flavors. Very intense. You’ll never have a beer like this!!! (No.299)

RB release bottle. Hazy medium orange amber color with a small light tan head. Thick raisin bread and caramel aromatics, with charcoal, vanilla, and alcohol. Turning oranges mix with burnt caramel, drying grapes, and vanilla bean husk. Heavy alcohol with a dried fruit trail mix character in the finish with wisps of smoke. Mouthfeel is rather heavy, fairly chewy with a high alcohol warming effect.

12oz bottle (batch 64). Poured a dark orange / copper color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of caramel, vanilla, smoke, wood (more of a burnt woodiness), dark cherries, and plums. Tastes of caramel, lighter smoke, dark fruits, oak, and citrus. I got some alcohol in the finish, but I didn’t find it overpowering at all. Incredibly easy to drink.

RB release bottle, an incredibly generous bonus from RooftopRogue, shared with SuIIy on 9/2/06.
Exuberantly frothy, thick-cream-colored head piles atop a surprisingly dark, copper-beige body with some strong tan highlights (Fred being strikingly light in color for a bw). Medium to medium-high clarity, leaving the sediment behind, with fierce carbonation rushing upwards. Retention is strong, and moderate lacing is created as the head recedes. Appearance is always top-notch at HOTD.
Grainy wood notes immediately rush forth from the glass, dry and slightly sharp, blending coconut-like notes, some esterized alcohol and an oily, dry, toasty oak and cigar-note that lends just a hint of darkness. But massively fruity pineapple jumps in to the mix, lightening things and adding a very intriguing fruitiness. Peaches, nectarines and the like join the fray, and throughout it all, a supple, rich, juicy-sweet pale maltiness helps deliver the support/balance. Some dry tannins still break through, somewhat, with light paperiness and slightly acidic/astringent vanilla. I certainly wouldn’t call it balanced in the aroma, by any means, but the pale malts, luscious, nearly tropical fruitiness and slight cigar-like edge is just too intriguing and unique to leave behind. Not to mention, the strength of the aroma is quite high.
Continued use of toasty, earthy, dry oak is apparent in the flavor, with a graininess that chips at the palate. It slowly eases in to the sweet malts, but all the while a touch of sharp alcohol hangs in the background. Dry fruitiness abounds, which really sets this apart from most BA barleywines, and the yellow fruit nature of it really helps keep things fairly lively in nature. Carbonation is high to begin, but evens out over time, though it still breaks the malt cohesion perhaps a bit too much, tipping the balance to the more dry, tannic, grainy flavors. But you can’t deny that any juiciness (not to be mistaken with syrupiness) in a barleywine, no matter how fleeting, is quite delightful. That being said, I still think the barrel is a bit too dominant.

rb release bottle. pours a dark tan body with a perfect egg shell colored head that laces down my snifter. the aromas are easy to pick out here, wood, leather, plums, watermelon, and alcohol with bread and toffee. tastes just like i remember from my trip through chicago when a cool guy named jay shared his bottle with me. woody vanilla, raisin, plum, dates, reminds me of port. finish is like warm raisin bread. alcohol lingers with more toast and fruit notes. a great beer and i’m glad i have another bottle. thanks to lumpy and my foster santa for each supplying me with a bottle, and to jay and chicago for that bottle we split in chicago. maybe next time we won’t get kicked out of a bar.

Nose is diaectyl and the entire spice cabinet, oregeno, thyme, rosemary. Flavour is very bready with a nice vanillin character. realy enjoyable earthy beer.

12 OZ bottle from Liq Sol. Pours an almost hazy orange copper with a long-staying head. Interesting herbal aroma. Pine, nuts, orange, canelop and alcohol smells. Taste is very bold, sweet and malt driven upfront, with some earthy bready flavors, peach, apricot and of course oak. Somewhat sweet and sour chalky finish. Full bodied. Most unique brew i have yet tasted that is for sure. I do prefer regular Fred though.