Hair of the Dog Rose

Formerly brewed at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Portland, Oregon USA

An hazy reddish brown ale with a thick off white head. The cap gave way too easily, although there is a fair amount of carbonation left. Some muck covered the cap, ugly and uninviting. The aroma is off-putting, with roses, wet bark, and fungal notes. In mouth, a sweet candy sugar with funkyness, a light sour touch, wood-rot, and warming alcohol. Rich bodied, but something is wrong here, overall. The infamous LCBO private import, Jan 2007. Batch X.

12 oz. bottle. Poured a nice rosy (go figure) color with quickly dissipating head. Aroma was somewhat floral; I guess it was the hibiscus flowers. Somewhat strange in my opinion, I wasn’t sure where this beer might be going. Well the taste was somewhat odd as well. There was definitely some sweetness there, but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. Later on I thought I could taste the beets in it, but maybe that was my imagination. Texture was pretty smooth and below-average in carbonation. Finished bitter and slightly alcoholic. I was left pretty confused after drinking Rose, and while it certainly wasn’t terrible, I can’t say it was great either.

12 oz bottle from Liquid Solutions. The aroma is very herbal, lightly musty (like old books) with a reserved sweetness. The body has a red/orange hue and holds a diminishing thumb thick white head. <P> Extremely herbal and vegetal tasting and that leaves a sort of old newspaper and mashed veggies flavor in the mouth. It’s better tasting than it reads. The alcohol content is completely hidden. It tastes like 5% abv or less. There is a sort of dusty flavor that lingers that I am not too fond of and while it gets a little sweet at times it is a "not quite sweet" kind of sweetness like artificial sweetners or beets (which this contains as I learned) which are sweet, but also veggie tasting. It’s got some very nice qualities, but on the whole I almost want it to be beefier and have more overt alcohol to it.

B41 – Red dark golden body, big off white head; This nose has depth and size, you can smell both the hibiscus and the pepper but they both seem quite unfitting in a beer, does complement each other well and together gives some raw vegetable like aromas; To soft carbonation(the seems almost flat), soft texture, slightly bitter, lacks a great amount of depth; The finish has an alright length, the bitterness grows and a very late fruity acidity arrives, the strange mix of aromas are there as well and makes the beer not all that drinkable (actually undrinkable). Very strange.

Batch 39 - Nice orange-amber pour with minimal head. Interesting mix of malt & fruit flavors that are quite pleasant. Taste is an interesting mix of dark fruits, honey, and heavier than normal "Trippel" flavors. This one, like all HOTD beers is very complex - better than most Trippels, but somehow not really a Trip at all. Overall it is sweet and pleasant, just not quite the home run that an Adam puts up.

Subtly spicy and peppery at first going into cherry, wood and ending with concentrated strawberry juice. Dark amber almost nut brown with a small white head, fading to a thin layer. Thin cidery flavor with notes of red wine and oak (actually like sucking on oak chips). Tart, astringent drying finish and a tame mouth feel. This is one weird "trippel" lacking the sweetness and effervescence normally associated with Belgian trippels and more like a dubbel in color. I could not finish this and even though I don’t care about styles, this was just too thin and uninteresting. Knowing HoD beers I cannot believe this is how this beer was supposed to taste. I have to retry it sometime.

Bottle courtesy of dubbercody, thanks again Jaime! Pours a brownish-orange with an off white head. Musty aroma of yeast, caramel malt, candied fruit and a bit of cinnimon. Flavors were of candied fruit, apple, yeast, light sweet malt with a touch of sourness. Lively carbonation that keeps the solid but light body a float...juicy in parts and finishes fairly clean. Another nice one from HOD.

12oz bottle from IrishBoy, Batch 41, thanks Richard! Pours a hazy ruby orange with a fizzy quickly fading one finger pink head--some chunks of yeast are in there as well. I don’t know what honey malts are, but I do smell honey, candy sugar, yeast, a bit of wintergreen, old (not wet) cardboard, and maybe Braeburn or Fuji apples--not the skin, but the fleshy white part. The flavors are the same going between tart acidity and candy sugar/honey sweetness, and finally finishes on dry and slightly bitter. Alcohol is noticeable. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation. I dunno why they call it a tripel. Not a huge fan of this one.