Hair of the Dog Rose

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

Bottled. Hazy blonde. Tidbitty, heavy flavour from banana esters and almond paste. Flowery and light malty. Big on Co2. Medium bitter.

12oz bottle, batch 33. OK, I’ve had to revise this rating. I had infected bottles from batches 32 & 34. Now I’m trying this one. For one thing, instead of pouring with about 3oz of liquid and 20oz of foam into my Duvel glass, this one is nearly flat, with just a trace of blotchy head. I can’t help but think this one is somewhat infected as well, though. Aroma is dominated by aged malt smell, and some phenolic and alcohol notes, but also some nice fruity smells come through the hairspray smell...Drinking is pleasant until the coarse, hot finish. Drinks something like an old barleywine that wasn’t hopped much. Warming, medicinal beer. It actually comes together fairly well, with a nice big malty character and certainly a very funky yeast or other element. Maybe even herbal, like rosemary?? Might this have some of my girlfriends Aveda hair products in it!?!?! This one turned out OK, despite my best efforts to find problems in it, the finish is still quite dodgy, though. I won’t be buying this by the case anytime soon! I’m somewhat glad my stock is gone.

Hazy light to dark goldish color. Sweet malt, candied aroma not overbearing. Creamy smooth flavor. Taste of hops, fruit, candy, floral and some tartness. Not a heavy beer, has a young character. Ends with hop tingle and a little lingering dryness. A good beer but needs a little more maturity.

12.22.04 12oz bottle, batch 33, thanks to loweredsixth. When I cracked the cap off of this brew, I noticed an unusual white moldy looking funk on the lip of the bottle, I wiped it off with a wet towel and poured into my etched Duvel galss. I love HOTD and I love Tripels, so you can imagine how much I wanted to love this brew...so much so that I had to beg Fresno for a bottle. Anyway, the pour was murky and golden with massive lacing. The bottle flirted with gushing, but gave up at the rim. Huge beige head of large bubbles. Little eff is enticed after the pour by the glass etching. This pen sucks..Oh, nevermind...A strong sense of grenadine is noticed with each whiff, along with some fresh peach, light must, sugar syrup, lots of alcohol, apple skin. This can’t be right. Flavor is salty, sharply tart like lettuce ofr grass, fresh pineapple core; really it’s not that tasty or sweet, or drinkable. There was that (typical HOTD) mold around the cap; maybe it was infected, bad, etc. Lots of burning alcohol; I’m terribly disappointed. My dad confirms my detection of butterscotch. Damn. Oh, hell -- it’s infected.

20070303re-rate and bumped the score a full point. Batch 35. Sweeter, caramel notes. Much better than recalled.

Batch #38. Dulled, hazed gold. Large frothy white head. Fruity pineapple aroma. Seemingly strong alcohol taste... almost hints of fruity vodka. Dull fruit hops. Pretty good full and interesting flavor.

Tropical fruit, pears, candi sugar and tart, spicy notes in the aroma with plenty of alcohol apparent also. Cloudy orange-amber with huge, white head and lots of visible carbonation. Yeasty, sweet, sugary flavour with some tart citrus orange/lemon and apple notes. Creamy, smooth mouthfeel with lightly prickling carbonation. Bottle.

This beer pours courtesy of Buck Dich in Idaho..thanks potato ranger! It pours a cloudy orangey yellow color with a ridiculously massive billowing of white frothy head which successfully overflowed my duvel glass. This also left a huge degree of lacing on my glass and a high degree of carbonation. The aroma is huge and up in your face. Very fruity, tart and spicey. Floral notes, citrus, lemon, tartness, ginger, cloves, pears and apricots in the nose. The flavor is extremely floral with heavy citrusy sweetness, apricots, pears, apples, malt, with a tart slightly wet finish. This is very complex for such a young bottle...the rating of this (only a 3.6) actually surprises me...I think there’s a lot going on here and could exacerbated even more with aging. Full bodied and sweet and sour balanced finish.. very nice beer.

Bottle: Golden yellow, fluffy white head that lasts, lots of tiny yeast particles visable. Aroma: apple, pear, plum, light spices, floral notes, citrus, sweet grapefruit, honey, and the slightest hint of alcohol. Taste: Mildly spicy, mild pepper, clove, with plenty of sweet malt, apple, pear, berries, melon, honey, caramel, dry malt. Finish is sticky with a touch of bitterness, then sweet, sugary malt. Medium body, excellent carbonation and mouthfeel.