Hair of the Dog Ruth

Brewed by Hair of the Dog Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

(02.27.06) 12 oz bottle purchased from Liquidsolutons.com. 4.5% ABV. Pours hazy golden yellow with tiny white head. Soft carbonaton. Fruit and cracker malt aromas. Light bodied American pale ale that starts with light malt sweetness and citrus hop flavor. Finishes dry and clean with light malt and hop bitterness fade. Clean tasting and refreshing beer. Well-balanced. This is a very good pale ale.

Light in colour, with a bit of haze. Slight fruit and hop aroma. Very clean with enough hops and malts to satisfy. This is not big but simple and smooth.

Even, lemony, clear straw color with practically no head. Light aromas of lemon, honey, and some light maltiness as well. Texture is light and smooth with very little carbonation and a touch of a yeastiness to it as well. I’m not detecting much in the line of hops either. Finish is smooth, buttery and rather cloying. I think I have tasted a poor example.

Thanks to santa for this one......pours out a nice golden color with a nice sized head. The aroma is nice with notes of sweet malt, fruit and some spice here and there. THe taste is very nice, not hoppy but fruit mixed with some sweet malt and a little yeast on the finish, a very drinkable beer, and a great warm weather beer....(snuck it on the plane to a warm place)

Pours a pale straw color with very little head, even with a fairly aggresive pour, that fade quickly to a thin ring that leaves behind minimal lacing. Smell; sweet malts are dominant, honey with a bit of oranges. There’s almost no hop presence in the aroma. Taste; traces of honey and oranges, malts and touches of yeast. As with the smell there’s very little in the way of hops. This isn’t quite what I expected, although it’s not bad, just different. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation.

Ruth is billed as an American Ale and it is very crisp, delicious, golden ale with great character, flavor, and is very drinkable and refreshing. This is a marked departure from the other line of HOTD beers that are meant to be sipped and savored. Ruth is the type of beer you could drink a lot of, but is packed with great malt and hop flavors. Ruth is brewed with pale malts, and Crystal hops. HOTD Ruth pours to a bright, very pale golden color with a soapy white head and a lively carbonation. Ruth is bottle conditioned, so be careful not to pour the dregs in, or Ruth will become a cloudy pale color. The nose on this beer is very aromatic with big aromas of pale malt, and spicy hop aroma. The palate is firm with lots of good biscuity malt character with a slight backdrop of yeasty flavor, and light touches of estery fruit. Ruth finishes with more sold pale malt flavors up front, then drys with a nice balance of spicy hop bitterness that slightly lingers. This is a very impressive golden ale, with fantastic pale malt flavors, and nice hop character as well. This beer isn’t a classic example of American pale ale like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. In fact, it has more in common with a Belgian pale ale such as Palm or De Konnick in my opinion. Lots of great pale malt flavors, some nice yeasty flavor, and good hop aroma and bitterness. So don’t be Ruthless, if you can find this beer, or any HOTD products in your market, they are well worth seeking out. Ruth is a very food friendly beer, and would match with a number of dishes. I would pair this with anything from grilled sword fish, steamed mussels, to roasted chicken, to smoked meats and cheeses.

Smells earthy, like a barnyard with a hint of honey. The head lingered for a long time, protecting the active carbonation. It was a mildly transparent bronze color. I picked up spices, honey, orange peels and grapefruit in the aftertaste. Overall it was very good and I would have this again, but won’t actively seek it out.

Bottle. Fruity ginger gum aroma. Hoppy mixed with spice rack. A quite pale, apoque blond with a generous, foamy head. Lemony, yeasty and wheaty flavor, tangy. Very refreshing, light and springy feeling. Quite pleasant. A bitter grapefruit in the finish. Not supposed to be that strong, but it feels like it packs a punch, or a dog bite rather. Very beatiful lacing left behind.