Hair of the Dog Rose Cassis

Formerly brewed at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Portland, Oregon USA

Amazingly unique look to this beer - it looks like it’s right out of the boil kettle: incredibly murky and dense looking, with a muddy purple hue that almost appears pale brown and grey from an angle. The head is mostly tan with a slight pink or purple hue present. Nose is rich and fruity, in a tart date and raisen way, and the yeast scent is phenomenal, almost appearing as a fruity brett scented lambic smell. Frothy and thick, smacking the tongue and roof of the mouth with a light brett-like sourness, and just a light hint of fruit, which in my opinion is the best way to present fruit in a beer, especially in a Belgian-style. Creamy, tart, tasting like beery seeds, pinching the mouth at times, but the fruit could be more rounded and ’fresh’ tasting, rather than muddy, doughy and yeast-covered. Still, very few complaints with this beer.

12 ounce bottle purchased from the brewery in early June 2006. Shared with my brother, ChazyRPH. Floral, fruity, black currant nose with some sweet, malty notes present later on in the aroma. Caramel and banana esters are also detected. Murky, muddy, sludgey, chocolate milk colored body with a smallish pink head. This is very ugly. I am being very generous by giving this beer a 2 for appearance. Vinous, sour, tart, currant-like sour berry start that is astringent. Becomes sweeter with caramel flavors and some banana-estery notes as well. Finishes with some slight dry, bitter hoppiness and mild ethanol. The flavors of this beer just don’t seem to jive together. Discordant.

Bottle. A strange muddy reddish pink color. Black currants fuel this beer and leave little else in its tracks. Floral notes in the flavor and it finishes with a mix of sweet and sour. Rating from notes.

VERY unfiltered, incredibly murky stuff. Weird stuff. Currant, fruity, quite acidic, not really much beer-wise going on, really more of currant juice than anything else.

Bottle. Cherry aroma with fruity, citrus, and yeasty qualities. Brownish purple color. Opaque. Thick with floaties and white foam. Woody cherry flavor. Lightly sweet and sour with strong woody bitter aftertaste. Hints of dark chocolate flavor. Slightly watery and dry on the palate. Overall it was less than the sum of its’ parts. Tastes like liquified cherry wood. Lacks overall intensity. Try New Glarus Enigma for similiar but more intense beer. Good overall and worth trying though. Not bad at all.

Pours the color of overworked playdoh, where all the colors have been mushed into one mass, with about the same opacity. Nice fruity aroma with some mown hay and lemon zest. The flavor is very nicely balanced between sweet and tart/sour with the cassis probably having dimished over the past year or so since bottling, becoming more a a vague tart cherry flavor. Unusually refreshing for a supposedly heavy beer. Just a little wildness, just a remnant of spiciness.

(Bottle) Sampled at the post-GCBF party hosted by Oakes, "Big Beer Sampling". Nose is definitive cherries; malt mixes with whiskey, sweet frozen strawberries, milky brakefluid and creamer. Good malted blackcurrent base. Very enjoyable.

Very odd body color. Kind of orange pinkish and almost cascading appearance. Currants, fruity aroma. Tart taste. More of an alcohol pop than a beer. Kind of like New Glarus Belgian Red its okay but nothing I could drink a lot of. Oh well, I thought I’d give it a try. I think this might be the first HOTD beer that hasn’t impressed me. But it is unique.