Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood

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

RBSG 06. Clear amber with off-white head. The aroma is floral, herbal and caramel. THe flavor is cherry, peach, raisin and caramel. Medium body with warm finish.

Sampled at RBSG 2006- Grand Tasting. Pours a hazy light amber color with an appreciably good white head. The amazing thing to me about this beer is the strong tangerine aroma that just leaps out at you. Great blended oak overtones with a sensational palate. Heat? Oh yeah, its got fuel.

Barrel contribution is immediate, the american oak making an immediately agressive impression, thankfully they’ve only aged it 6 months and the size of the base beer must have helped in assuring a healthy balance. Spicy barrel character works like a charm, creating a definitely different beast than the regular Fred, but where you can recognize the signature. Very impressive mouthfeel, whereas most barrel-aging attemps nowadays thin out and dull out the texture on the base beers, this one remains full bodied and vastly carbonated in a belgianesque fierce fat bubbles irrigation manner. Also remarkable is the unoticeable oxidized character that we can generally retrieve in such experiments. Where it lost a bit of its maple richness, its vanilla, earthiness and grapes are all there while the perfumey floral hops get carried on by the herbal, wild wood and morphed orange blossom and apricot juiciness. Still very sweet, but with the usual impressive HOTD sipping balance bringing in the equation enough bitterness to support drinkability.

Sampled this one at a tasting. Thanks, rooftoprogue. The body was dark orange with a white colored head. The aroma was sherry with some buttery notes. There was also some amaretto and rich toffee. The taste was buttery almonds with some pancakes. There was also toffee with vanilla and flowers. RB has a winner with this one.

Any first impressions?
-A sturdy sheet of foam aptly protects the foggy dark orange.
-Flying over the glass, one can only perceive some of the many wonders displayed below: dry forests, herb and spice gardens, minty fresh wetlands close to fruity caramel waterfalls...
-Once down on the field, the terrain never plateaus, always keeping the tongue on its toes; maple syrup creeks leading up to abundant fruit trees in valleys laden with spice gardens and tall hop vines.
-Again, that Hair of the Dog lively, almost Belgian-style carbonation in artful, bold American mouthfeel manages a rather splendid palate coating.

What if you dig deeper?
-Some heat is perceived in the aroma, mostly because of the barrel, and it fits with the rest of the perfume’s elaboration.
-The oak barrel character gets more obvious with every sip, but is never obstrusive, adding complexity to this already sagacious flavor profile.
-The fruitiness within is too diverse to be accurately described.
-A fantastic Hair of the Dog experiment, with an intelligent use of the oak barrels. What else could you expect from them?

Bottle; the Ratebeer batch.

12 oz. Bottle. Pours a dark copper color with an off white head, great lacing. Aroma is heavy on the wood, with hints of vanilla, tobacco, and subdued malts. The flavor is slightly harsh with wood and alcohol dominating. The sweet malts come through at the end with a slight hoppy bitterness. This beer tastes young. I have no doubt this beer will be excellent in a year or so. I’ll probably re-rate then.

Bottle. Nose-buttered popcorn. Dark brown honey body with a thick film of bubbles. Woody, buttery, light maple syrup, light vanilla, good amount of hops. Very well done.

12 oz RBSR bottle and served in my LaChouffe tulip: Pours a beautiful coppery hue topped by a creamy tan head and left excellent lace. The nose detects a lot of wood, melon, white pepper, honeydew, vanilla, caramelized and musty malts. The taste has a sharp alcohol bite over a heavy malt base. Some tannic wood and over-ripened fruits add depth, but at this point this beer is still way too young, brash, pungent and really needs to mellow out. The mouth feel is lush and a touch oily, very warming. Potential for greatness if the wood and booze level out. I will age a few bottles I got. (THX Chris by the way)