Fred From The Stone
Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company / Brewery And Tasting Room

Malty, Carmel, to the hilt. Smells like an aged old British ale.

Tastes big of caramel and malt, toffee and fresh dirt, mossy stone.

Thick syrupy body with little carbonation.

Having this at the Hair of the Dog tasting room in Portland, August 25th, 2019.

 

 

 

 

I taste and smell licorice and raisins. It was not the typical strong pale I was expecting. It was darker in color, a dark copper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clear amber with a creamy off-white blanket and an impressive wall lace all around the glass.

Smell is banana, licorice, verdant hops and sticky bread dough.

Sharp with some heat, I get flavors of caramel, phenolic spice, toffee, estery pear with a slick round body and tingly carbonation, finishing mostly dry.

We did a side-by-side with Fred From the Wood at the brewery and the differences were stark.

 

 

 

 

On tap at the brewery.

A mildly hazy orange with a thin, off white head with decent retention and lacing, this looks decent. The nose is a mellower, mildly more mineraly version of Fred. Hops are softer, malt is more rounded with the honey notes, caramel, toffee, a little butterscotch. Yummy. The palate opens full with a blend of hop bitterness, orange blossom honey, candi sugar, and a little rye. To my palate, this is closer to an aged Fred than a very different version of the beer; the concrete egg adds a little bit of mineral character. Sweet on the finish with a blend of caramel and candied orange peel, this beer is softly carbonated and pretty solid. Recommended

 

so apparently they have this egg shaped granite vessel that they age some of their famous beers in. very cool to get to try this one. i have not had the regular fred, just the one done with and at de molen, so a direct comparison is not possible, but this beer is insane, like nothing i have ever had. the malt weight of the original is only amplified by all the minerality it picks up, gets an almost salty rocky thing going on, really hefty beer to say the least. it doesnt seem to mellow the beer the way oak and other woods do, instead it highlights a number of different features. grain tannins, mineral spirits, salt, dried apple, and crazy high gravity yeast all seem quite prominent. its very strong too, that is immediately obvious. its obvious how much the stone treatment has added to this. my brother didnt love it, but i thought it was real earthy and sort of raw, seemingly less refined rather than more so. the stone definitely tames some of the sweetness, or rather counterbalances it with minerals. carbonation was much higher than expected, it seemed almost lively, i didnt think any of their beers did that. a very clever strong ale, cool treatment in the stone, i would love to try it side by side with the original next time i am there...