Bourbon Fred From The Wood | Hair of the Dog Brewing Company / Brewery and Tasting Room

4/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A cognac of beers. Chocolate and vanilla, like that Sam Adams beer. A sipper, rich ingrediants and worthwhile seeking out. Complex bourbon aroma.Good looks as well.Buffalo tasting.Superior barleywine.Only the best from HOTD. Booze is well hidden, I did not realize it was a 10 plus.

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4.5/5  rDev +10%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

4.32/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

3.75/5  rDev -8.3%

4.25/5  rDev +3.9%

4.5/5  rDev +10%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4.5/5  rDev +10%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4.01/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Bottle at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company, Portland, OR

A: The beer is somewhat hazy caramel amber in color. It poured with just a few specks of bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of vanilla, oak, and toffee are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and is very toffee-like, with notes of vanilla from the oak.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied and a little sticky on the palate with no carbonation.
O: This makes for a nice dessert beer and is something that needs to be slowly sipped.

Note: 2011 vintage

Serving type: bottle

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4/5  rDev -2.2%

3.15/5  rDev -23%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Bottle: Poured a deep brown color ale with almost no head and no lacing – pretty much flat. Aroma of Kentucky bourbon with some vanilla is pretty powerful with distinct alcohol ester and loads of brown sugar notes. Taste is an unbalanced mix between strong notes of bourbon with some loads of brown sugar notes and some light vanilla. Body is full with almost no carbonation and loads of alcohol ester is discernable. Too boozy and too sweet for my taste – probably the type of beer that could be split four ways for a 12oz bottle.

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4.5/5  rDev +10%

3.78/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Thanks, Kevin.

Dark, ruddy amber body. Completely still.

A lot of oak and oxidation on the nose, smells a lot like Fred from the Wood with light bourbon overtones. Oxidation lends an earthy sherry quality, nuttiness, and there's plenty of sweet pale malt from Fred balanced with the barrel.

There's more bourbon on the palate than the nose, along with plenty of oak. Caramel flavors are balanced by strong tannins and slightly nutty, sherry-like oxidation. Full-bodied, pretty much still though it isn't to the beer's detriment. Oak heavy finish, almost spicy.

Nice stuff, slightly more enjoyable than Fred from the Wood to me.

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4/5  rDev -2.2%

4/5  rDev -2.2%

4.25/5  rDev +3.9%

4.5/5  rDev +10%

3.41/5  rDev -16.6%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 3.5

2009 vintage. 12oz bottle poured into my Dogfish snifter. It poured a murky brown color and very still looking.

The aroma seems pretty bourbon dominated with a lot of alcohol showing through. Woody oak, brown sugar and a malty caramel flavor round out the flavors. The bourbon is good, but it feels pretty one dimensional.

The taste shows a lot of the bourbon influence. Up front is especially dominated by a bold bourbon flavor. In the finish is where more of the woody oak, vanilla and brown sugar mix with a little of the malty sweetness of the base beer. It's a little boozy and bourbon dominated up front, but the finish is very good. Fred seems a little overshadowed by the bourbon, but the bourbon is pretty tasty and smooth though.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied, but completely flat. I like low carbonation in bourbon forward beers, but this is a little too low.

Overall, it was a good beer but wasn't a great beer in my opinion. The no carbonation aspect hurt it a lot and made it feel almost like a bourbon cocktail and not a beer. The bourbon flavors were very good, but that seemed like all it had going for it.

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3.78/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Bottle shared by drabmuh. Served in a SAVOR wine glass.

Pours a moderately-dark caramel color with a short off whiter head and a thin collar. The nose has bourbon and some slight oak tannin. Heavy malt and light caramel. Flavor is a bit more integrated with a touch less tannin. Medium body with low carbonation. Pretty good, but the bourbon takes over the base beer and is a bit too one-dimensional.

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3.95/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Not sure where I first had this, but this review is for a 2011 bottle I acquired in Portland, and cellared until June 2014.

Prying the cap off gave a tiny hiss, indicative of the practically non-existent carbonation I expected. Poured into a HotD stemmed taster, a murky burnt orange color, with no head, and extremely low carbonation, with the tiniest of collars around the rim of the glass, which left microscopic strands of lacing. An interesting aroma, raisins, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, dried orange peel. A lot going on in the taste as well, but largely reflected the aroma: chewy caramel and brown sugar, raisin, heavily oaked bourbon still apparent even after years of mellowing, vanilla and dried citrus zest, with a candy-like sweetness. I'd imagine this was much boozier fresh, but the bourbon and overall higher ABV was pretty well-integrated at this point. Body was closing in on full, mouthfeel was slick, but the practically lifeless carb sort of detracted from the mouthfeel. I always know HotD brews are going to be low carb, but I still always wish there was just a bit more in there to liven up the mouthfeel. Still a good brew overall, but with a complexity in the flavor that might come off as messy to some.

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