Hair of the Dog Matt Commemorative Ale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Pours opaque chocolate with a fair parchment head. Aroma features roast malt, earthy, caramel and woody hop tones. Flavor gives roast malt, fruity, caramel, woody and earthy notes. Texture yields smooth, firm body with jazzy fizz and a roadty and slightly smoky finish. All hail Matt!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Holy apple brandy spicy smoky goodness Batman! Possibly my favorite new Portland beer from the 2014 trip. A little boozy, otherwise faultless. Loved the toasty sweet and smoky aspect. A real treat. Glad we sprung for a 2013 bottle at HOTd.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

RBAG 2012. THANK YOU JEFF!!!Ruby brown pour with no cap. So much going on in this aroma......It be epic! Vanilla, brown sugar, limited soya sauce, hints of sweet purple grape, and I swear I’m smelling celery but that seems more the wrong. Taste is so phenomenal I just came. Cinnamon, cherry/maybe grape, tons of wood, mild smoke, more vanilla. The bourbon aging is perfect. Caramel malts turning slightly chocolaty, beer starting to get sweet. WOW what a great beer it held up to its hype and I probably would found many more flavors if not for the limited quantity I had.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 10

Really dig this, though for some strange reason I thought 3:00 on a hot 30 (C) degree summer afternoon. Bit of a heavy beer for that but o well. Prunes and plums, something Belgian yeasty. 2010 bottle drank in august 2011. Port like, something brandy, makes me think dark chocolate. I think it is like Lost Abbey Deliverance in alot of ways. Fruitier and a nicer yeast thought. Not a super accessible beer but my port drinking roommate loves it. Alcohol is totally hidden. Well enjoyed. Sweet but only touches on syrupy which I really like. Hate that syrup on my teeth. I have barely any head on pouring, but then some comes up after a minute, and it has stayed there for 30 min now. Happy with that!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Yesterday I went to the Hair of the Dog Brewery & Tasting Room after realizing last week that I drive by it almost every time I go downtown. I wish I went here sooner because it turns out they have vintage bottles available (that you must drink there). I knew this was a beer I wanted to try, but accidentally ordered the Michael first. Hey, they both start with an M, and I didn't expect to find it here. Not that this was a bad mistake anyway. So the bottle I tried was a 2009 aged for two years at the brewery. It poured very black with little carbonation. This is what is killing my score. I don't know if there was something wrong with the cap or if this strong beer was supposed to have very little carbonation. At least from there it only gets better. There is a super crazy dark fruit aroma with no alcohol burn. A perfect 10! The body is very full and chewy, while smooth from lack of carbonation and still no alcohol burn. Chocolate and dark fruit flavors take over this rich beer. Hints of smoke add to the complexity. Nearly another perfect 10. Overall a very awesome beer that I was not expecting to find. Worth the price I paid.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 10

Christmas Day we had the chance to have some family over for a tasting and I was lucky enough to share this with a few of them. I always go a little jig when I’m doing a new HotD beer because I know I’m in for a treat of some kind, and this was no different. Body is a cherrywood reddish-brown, still body with no head. A decadent aroma full of maple syrup, rummy raisins, figs, mocha, oak and bourbon. Flavor was equally divine, with tons of rich caramel, sharp smoke, pungent wood, bourbon, appley....clearly something to be savored in a special time and place. Christmas Day with family was definitely it.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

creamy and delicious, woah.. dark ruby with a medium head .. so complex, and the locks were changed .. . plum to berry to apple to burnt wood; so so so complex oh whaaat a dream, merrily merrily ..fuck! so delicious! .. hammers!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Served lightly chilled around 55ºF / 13ºC
A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass just produces a fat-one-finger thick, nicely browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is quite dark, almost black really with perhaps a touch of brown to it. When held up to the light the beer shows brilliantly clear, deep, dark ruby highlights. The aroma is quite smoky, phenolic even; the smoke character doesn’t have the richness that I associate with beech-wood (Rauchbier) or alder-wood (Alaskan Smoked Porter) smoked beers, instead it is a little thin, though really this might be because the smoke is not nearly at the same level as those other smoked beers. The smoke here combines with a distinct fruitiness that reminds me of raisins, prunes and even some brandy like notes along with a touch of warming alcohol. At times the alcohol can be quite noticeable in the aroma, especially after I have started to drink the beer. The fruit character becomes very rich and interesting if you concentrate on the nose for a bit. There is also a touch of roast malt character noticeable after a bit as well. Not a bad nose, but the up front smoke character is a little thin and sharp at times, though it does have a nice underlying richness.

The beer is creamy and viscous feeling with only a faint carbonation that supplies a very soft prickle. The beer is fairly sweet, which accentuates a dark, concentrated fruitiness, but both of these are offset somewhat by a sharp malt influence. Roast grain notes provide a burnt-bitterness to the finish, perhaps a touch of acrid notes as well as a touch of burnt acidity. The smoked malt is a bit fainter than it even was in the nose, but it does provide a subtle smokiness that provides some richness to the beer as well as a hint of sharp smoke phenolics that is just noticeable at times. The rich fruitiness is the most noticeable part of the flavor; notes of prunes, raisins and roasted berry notes are all quite noticeable. Subtler fruit notes of caramelized apples, a touch of dates as well as some not so subtle rich, Brandy-like fruitiness. Alcohol is evident, but donesn’t get past supplying a nice warmth and a bit of spiciness. While rich feeling on the tongue, the beer isn’t overly heavy and in fact is a bit more drinkable than might be safe.

For a beer that has a fairly middling aroma to it, the flavor has turned out to be quite nice. This is definitely a sipping brew and I am really enjoying the rich, concentrated fruitiness here that is just supported by roast malt notes and a hint of smokiness. After a slow start, this ends up being quite an enjoyable brew.