Doggie Claws - Hair of the Dog Brewing Company / Brewery and Tasting Room

mzwolinski

California

3.68/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

2002 edition. The first thing I noticed about this beer was the unusual hop aroma – stemming, I suppose, from the rather unusual choice of hops. The scent is mostly herbal, with a bit of an orange, citrusy note. A whiff of alcohol makes its way through too. All this is undergirded by a subtle, caramel malt aroma. The end result is quite terrific, and improves as the beer sits. In appearance, the beer has a light copper color and a formidable creamy head which leaves good lacing down the glass. The flavor struck me a bit harshly. There’s just a tiny hint of sweetness up front, and then it’s right into a mostly herbal, somewhat medicinal hop-dominated flavor, and a mild alcohol warming, building to what struck me as an extremely bitter finish. Medium bodied and dry, this is a decent beer, and improves when it sits. I’d like to set one of these away for a year or so and see how it smooths out.

Serving type: bottle

03-26-2003 18:22:22 | More by mzwolinski

Denali

Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On tap at the Split Thy Skull event at Mugs Ale House in Brooklyn, New York.

Appearance: Opaque orange-amber with thick tan head. Effervescence was clearly visible as tiny bubbles of carbonation were percolating to the top. It was looking at me saying "drink me" so I did cause that's what I do (Note that the comment "cause that's what I do" is a tribute to slander).

Smell: Glorious apricot aroma. Hops aroma was also present.

Taste: Hops flavor up front along with a very fruity apricot-like flavor. Sweet malt flavor then follows, along with cloves, and finishes with a hop bitterness. Aftertaste is very complex, first dominated by apricot, but banana was also detected. Lots of flavors going on here.

Mouthfeel: Syrupy with good carbonation.

Drinkability: So delicious its almost quaff-able, even for a barley wine.

Comments: My favorite barley wine at the event. What flavors! The aftertaste lasts forever. Oh my! Woof Woof!

Serving type: on-tap

03-25-2003 16:09:14 | More by Denali

nomad

Kansas

4.47/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

2002 vintage - which seems a bit better than some of the vintages below - this beer was a smash hit at a barleywine festival

Poured a beautiful apricot/peach color. Swung this easy puppy up to my eye and it was easy to kick up a head of tiny little bubbles - all fun to watch. Fast sliding lace. Altogether the appearence was almost like a hefe-weiss profile. (Truly though! I had a Weisenstephaner next to it, so the comparison is fair) Appearance was like no other barlweyine I've seen.

Nose was of wild grapes, floral, like a peach wine almost, astringent pine, and lemon. Scents were very uplifting due to the underripe apricot and peach. Tasted like wild grapes, hops, and a flavor that almost tastes like eating edible flowers, if you've ever done it. Nice balance of sour and salt. Citrusy but uniquely so from the unripe peaches. Among the palate it had a great middle where all these taste came together nicely. Very drinkable with a mouthfeel that was fairly and not thin nor oily nor etc.

Extremely tasty and a great and different take on barleywine. A unique type of alcohol in general, like a magical fruit concoction – and wasn’t even aged!

Serving type: on-tap

03-23-2003 18:42:17 | More by nomad

BeerBuilder

Minnesota

4/5  rDev -5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2001 Release

Orangish-copper in color with a thick, mountainous head with excellent lacing. The aroma is herbal, alcoholic, fruity, and somewhat bready. The flavor is alcoholic throughout; it attacks the whole mouth. It has a herbal and sweet maltiness like that of candi sugar. It reminds me of a Belgian ale. I even detect a slight fig flavor. It has a pecular smell that I have never smelt before. It must be the choice of hops in this one. It was my first Barley Wine of the year, and I found it to be extremely complex in the aromas and flavors. A very good beer that I would definitely sample again.

Serving type: bottle

03-05-2003 07:57:13 | More by BeerBuilder

Dogbrick

Ohio

4/5  rDev -5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2002 Bottle: Hoo-yeah, this is a potent beer! Dark murky amber color with an insanely thick off-white head. As with other HOTD beers, this one took awhile to pour. Aroma of hops and pepper resonates throughout the glass. Definitely has some Imperial IPA qualities in the flavor, with strong hops, alcohol, and some fruit. There is enough malt in the flavor and in the finish to balance it out and to make for a nice seasonal Barley Wine.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2003 09:45:21 | More by Dogbrick

cokes

Wisconsin

2.95/5  rDev -29.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

2001 edition. Or it is 1968?

(Big) Huge,1.5L bottle...or as it states on the label: 1 Quart 1 pint / 2.7 fluid oz. Gee, that system simplifies things.

A bizarre-looking glass full of tan-peach liquid nitrogen. Head is about 2 shades lighter. Massive initially, then fades to nothing.
Nostrils are bombarded with candied apricot sweetness and piney, whole leaf (whole plant?) hops. Toffee takes refuge here. But it is quickly located and neutralized by the oppressive alcohol regime that is gaining power by the moment.
Fruit inflitrates and permeates the entire beverage. Certainly complex. Intense mangoes and heavy peach syrup notes organize successful bombing runs. The war is expanded into sour lime and green apples. Layered on a secured butter-toffee basecamp.
Sounds like all is well so far, huh?
Well, that quickly changes. Solvent-like ethanol is set aflame and burns injudiciously all that could have prospered. This is a massacre of unfounded proportions; the Pol Pot of brews. It is a shame, really, as the once benevolent fruity hues are relocated and slaughtered in a murderous siege sponsored by a junta of rubber cement, petroleum, and chemical byproducts. Napalm perhaps, with hints of Agent Orange? This shit will defoliate anything.
I am left with a mouthful of clinging, burning plastic, as the hops enter to raid whatever remains standing. A lone pine tree, coated in wax and gasoline, is a silhouette against the smoldering horizion.
A helicopter descends to evacuate whatever it can. I was not fortunate enough to be included on the flight.
I am forced to face the residual carnage, alone and frightened. The burning landscape is cloyingly adhered to the inside of my mind and my mouth.

The Horror! The Horror!

This is a complex and interesting chapter in (beer) history. Yet in many ways, it is one that should remain unexplored.

A Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disordered thanks to Lt. Bighuge for the tour of duty.

Serving type: bottle

12-20-2002 02:01:42 | More by cokes

mattmaples

Oregon

4.85/5  rDev +15.2%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

If you thought Fred was barley wine you aint seen nothin' yet. I got a sneek peak last night at the brewery and man what a throughly enjoyable barley wine. The one I tried had already been aged for a year and it was great. Bold up front hops without being braceing or brash with substantial malt backing. Sorry about not being more spacific but Allen waited until later in the evening before breaking it out and ... well...you know! I feel sorry for those of you to far away to get some maybe next y

Serving type: bottle

10-12-2001 17:21:02 | More by mattmaples