Wet Dog Wheat Wine
Harmon Brewing Co.

This is the first professed wheat wine I've seen in the Pacific Northwest, though at 6.7% ABV, it hardly qualifies for the style. Wet Dog (presumably no relation to the Astoria brewpub of the same name) is opaque ochre and delivers no head, no lace, and no appreciable smell. Its tart flavor is neither sharp nor peppery and might best be described as dry and bland like wet chaff.

Harmon's menu placard, describing Wet Dog as an IPA that, "will make a hop head's tail wag," is a complete fallacy. Hop flavor is barely discernable, let alone prominent, and causes no undue tail wagging by hop heads or others. The beer is served fashionably warm and begs for a wedge of fresh lemon. It's not awful, but otherwise just doesn't come together in any meaningful way.

This is described more like a wheat based IPA then what I think of as wheat wine. However, that is what they call it, so that's how I entered it.
"A Northwest style IPA. Cloudy gold color, medium body, a great balance. It will make a hophead's tail wag."

Served in a shaker pint, Wet Dog is a murky burnt gold with a thin white collar, still and lifeless, leaving very light, scattered lace.

Smell is somewhat reserved, especially with the boastful hoppiness, just a light floral/citrus hop note, a little sour tang from the wheat. Served not to cold, which I appreciate, the nose is more akin to an ice cold, dulled down beer.

Taste is also pretty bland, a bit hoppier then the nose, with a slight fusel alcoholic bite at the end. This is basically just a strong American pale wheat ale. The hops are most notable on the resiny finish, with moderate bitterness. There's a more distinct hoppiness when I burp then when I actually drank the brew!

Mouthfeel is on the thicker side, there's some oiliness from the hops, but the maltiness keeps it from getting to dry, in spite of the ABV.

Drinkability is OK, but they should probably market this differently. It's nothing like a barelywine made with wheat (like I expect from a 'wheat wine'), and it's really not making my hop head tail wag either! As such, I'm scoring this one as a beer, not as any particular style. As both and IPA or Wheat wine, it would be scored lower. Unpolished, it seems like a test batch.