Blue Dot Double India Pale Ale
Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company / Brewery And Tasting Room

Blue Dot Double India Pale AleBlue Dot Double India Pale Ale
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From:
Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company / Brewery And Tasting Room
 
Oregon, United States
Style:
Imperial IPA
ABV:
7%
Score:
90
Avg:
4.03 | pDev: 10.67%
Reviews:
513
Ratings:
1,083
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 10, 2023
Added:
Aug 14, 2005
Wants:
  228
Gots:
  98
Available in kegs year-round; rotating release in bottles, dated by 'Season' and 'Year' ('Spring 2009', 'Winter 2010', etc.)
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by trevorwideman:
Photo of trevorwideman
Reviewed by trevorwideman from Canada (MB)

4.28/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
22oz bottle poured into an oversized wine glass. Bought at City Beer, San Francisco.

Pours a murky, almost opaque, orange-peach colour with a big-ass fluffy head that takes a while to recede, but leaves a lot of lacing. Medium carbonation. Lovely looking beer. Aroma is piney, oily, a bit floral, and lots of citrus peel. Anise, and a very light breadiness backing it up.

Taste is hoppy as hell but well balanced. Anise, vanilla, pine, orange peel, cakelike sweetness, a little caramel and some alcohol. Medium-full body, medium dry, and carbonation is so perfect. 7% is manageable and keeps this drinkable to about three, and the balance is exceptional. Well played.
Jul 27, 2007
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.75/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Taster at brewery. Hazy, bright golden, soft soapy head. Aroma seems subdued (this after some high octane strong ales), malty, hint of hops. Taste brings the bitterness, not big and in your face, but appropriate for the style. Bitterness lingers on the palate, and dries out a bit too. Sneaky for a DIPA, but not high in ABV either. Conundrum.
Dec 10, 2023
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

4.16/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
on draft at the brewery in Portland

dark orange in color, a little cloudy, thick white head. Candied citrus aroma, but taste is based with underlying bitterness. medium bodied.
Apr 24, 2022
Photo of TheBricenator
Reviewed by TheBricenator from Oregon

4/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Look: Opaque medium orange with a frothy white head that recedes to a lid and holds, leaving great lacing behind
Aroma: Spicy rye malt, herbaceous hop notes, earthiness, pine, bready malt, and wafts of citrus fruit – oranges and grapefruit dominate
Taste: An array of citrus fruits and conifers come together and take the lid off as rye starts to follow closely behind and weave its way in. Herbaceous and earthy hops hold center stage in the middle and closes with bready malt and a nice hop bite
Mouthfeel: Full, medium-high carbonation, and lightly dry on the finish
Overall: This is tasty stuff and unique in the DIPA world as well. Not only does this beer have an old-school leaning hop profile in taste/aroma, but the rye addition is delicious, works very well in this beer, and adds quite a bit to the overall experience. A fun and enlightening hop adventure and one I’m glad to have experienced one last time
Apr 20, 2022
 
Rated: 4.28 by kodt from Illinois

Mar 08, 2022
 
Rated: 3.96 by Lucnifter from California

Feb 20, 2022
Photo of REVZEB
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois

4/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Had on tap. Cloudy orangey bronze pour accompanied by a cream sudsy cap. Classic combo of citrus and pine in the nose. Taste is potent with the hops and hints of almost boozy rye, big orange and grapefruit carry the citrus with a malt backbone. Feel is earthier than most DIPAs, hops are sharp and cutting through the solid malt base. Good all around DIPA
Oct 08, 2021
Photo of barnzy78
Reviewed by barnzy78 from Illinois

4.16/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
16oz can
L: brilliant hazy tangerine body, thinner ivory head
S: bready caramel malt, earthy pine, grapefruit rind, mango
T: loads of piney bitterness along with pithy grapefruit rind; caramel malt and bread crust for a hefty malt backbone
F: full body, ample carbonation, pungently bitter and dry finish
O: a bold beer, just like the other beers I’ve had from Hair of the Dog
Aug 22, 2021
 
Rated: 3.92 by CisPiece88 from Nebraska

Mar 28, 2021
Photo of Slatetank
Reviewed by Slatetank from Pennsylvania

3.89/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
poured chilled from bomber into willybecker
golden with chill haze and small white head
snells of hops with pine and fruity ester of yeast
feel is bitter and dry with slight yeast and caramel sweetness light alcohol
flors is semi woody hop and tinge of malty toasted flavor finish is dry with some spice
Overall a pretty decent ipa..west coast style a very good example of the style
Dec 25, 2020
 
Rated: 4.01 by GeorgeAKeim from Oregon

Oct 11, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by jaxon53 from Connecticut

Aug 09, 2020
Photo of MaltsOfGlory
Reviewed by MaltsOfGlory from Oregon

2.8/5  rDev -30.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.75
16oz can

Pours less than a finger of white head into my nonic, fades quickly. Initial lacing looks decent. Body is a dark orange, with hints of brown. Visibility low. Looks ok so far.

Nose is quite malt forward, hard to distinguish between the caramel and what seem to be some faint DMS. Maybe some faint hops. Pretty sweet. Not very impressed though, too sweet, almost no hop aroma, and DMS.

Yup something is super off here. DMS for sure. Other than that, some mild hops, not much else.

Mouthfeel is poor as well. Carbonation is barely there. Body has some weight to it I suppose, but irrelevant at this point. Bitterness is noticeable, and is the only part of this beer that even hints at an IPA.

Drinkability is ok I guess. It doesn’t taste horrible or anything, just not really any reason to put it back in a quick manner.

Appearance turned out ok, lacing was very patchy, head was sub par.

Overall, not good here. I will attribute some of this to Hair of the Dogs new canning line. Both beers have been undercarbed, however this one has noticeable DMS, which is not a canning issue.
Nov 22, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by wisrarebeer from Wisconsin

Jun 17, 2019
Photo of Noah_Aimar
Reviewed by Noah_Aimar from Oregon

3.73/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
It pours a hazy golden amber with a pretty decent, rocky head.

Mostly all malty grain notes from this. Definitely can taste the rye malts, not so much the pilsner. In terms of hop profile it's nothing special, the real highlight of this beer seems to be the rye malt notes which give a clear black licorice taste. The finish is smooth and lingers in a way that is surprisingly refreshing for a beer of this character. They did a great job of balancing out the bitterness to make this a pretty unique double IPA from what I've had. It's nothing special but I'm not disappointed in having tried it. Provides an excellent example for what rye malts can do
May 15, 2019
Photo of Lingenbrau
Reviewed by Lingenbrau from Oregon

4.06/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Blue Dot may have been the very first HotD beer I had long ago, but now it's time to give it the respect it deserves with a proper review...

As with most of this esteemed breweries offerings, Blue Dot isn't all that pretty. A muddled coppery orange color with limited transparency. The saving grace is the beautiful off white cap that leaves ring after ring of spotty lacing, and a creamy tightly knit foam ring around the surface.

Subtly pungent? Pungently subtle? Anyhoo, it has an old school vibe to it. Piney and resinous with a touch of citrus juices and a spicy,black licorice like finish.

The flavor doesn't disagree. Evergreen sap, bitter rinds, and a spicy and herbal finish. Black licorice once again being on the end accompanied by a toasty graininess.

Slightly slick, with a lower carbonation than usual (also classic HotD). Close to balanced except that the bitterness creeps in long after sips. There is a touch of alcohol burn which amplifies as it warms.

Blue Dot might night win any newcomers over, but you classic hounds will enjoy it. This here is the first running off their new canning line. The rye is more noticed than ever before, in my opinion, which makes this a truly enjoyable classic DIPA.

Cheers.
Apr 09, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

Jan 31, 2019
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Reviewed by scream from Wisconsin

3.69/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Was really looking forward to this as their beers are not available here in Wisconsin. Picked this up on a recent trip to N California. Sorry, it just did not do it for me. It's OK but nothing special from my perspective
Oct 25, 2018
 
Rated: 4.05 by Dactrius from Netherlands Antilles

Sep 03, 2018
 
Rated: 3.85 by philbe311 from Pennsylvania

Jun 17, 2018
Blue Dot Double India Pale Ale from Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company / Brewery And Tasting Room
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 1083 ratings