What beer are you drinking now? #4911

Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company / Brewery And Tasting Room -- Fred
Golden special ale; bottle conditioned
ABV: 10%; pouring temperature: 62.6 °F; bottling info: Batch 103
Source: direct from brewery online purchase



4.44/5 rDev +9.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Revisited March 31st, 20206

Clear, dark amber color; sparse carbonation; thick head, white, dense; thick, lasting; clinging rings and spidery fingers of foam inside the glass. Gentle yet rich malt sweetness nose. Sublime taste; rich and gently sweet flavor with a spicy and phenol offset; zesty; peppery; delicate fruity esters. Soft yet heavy body; velvety with a feathery dryness.

Good lord, but so many of these HoTD beers do age well. Batch 102 was bottled and released in early 2020, so this is likely a 2021 release. Regardless, this is one beautiful sucker. So balanced, so nuanced with flavor, and delivering such a fantastic mouthfeel.

----------------------------------------------------

Revisited April 17th, 2024

Ratings, scores, and review:

4.5 4.0 4.25 4.25 4.25; BA weighted overall: 4.21; rDev: +3.4%

Crystal clear, dark amber body; dense, slow-rising carbonation, thick head, partially sculpted appearance. Rich, deep caramel aroma blending with touch of earthy spiciness. The taste continues the rich sweetness; a bit more spicy phenols on the tongue; a bit of oak barrel character; lightly boozy on the back end. Heavy body; dense, viscous residual sugar feel; a touch of alcohol heat.

For a 10-year old beer, this thing is pretty phenomenal. Dense, rich, complex, alluring.

ABV: 10%; pouring temperature: 56 °F; bottling info: 2014
Source: online order shipped from the brewery

-----------------------------------------------------------

Original December 10th, 2022 ratings, scores, and such:

4.25 4.0 4.0 4.25 4.0; BA weighted overall score: 4.04; rDev: -0.7

Rather cloudy amber-orange body; huge, thick and billowy bone-white head, very long lasting. Big caramel aroma with robust, earthy spiciness; dull esters; toasted malt grains. Rich malt flavor; caramel and toffee; mild alcohol presence; a sort of spiciness on the tongue. Heavy body; soft velvet and sticky feel on the palate; underlying sweet mouthfeel overshadowed by an overall dryness.

This is a rich and intense strong ale. Personally, I'd classify this as a Belgian style strong ale due to the use of candi sugar.

Pouring temperature: 37 °F; bottling info: Batch number 102

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

...my remaining collection of HoTD beers is dwindling...I don't know if I have any more Fred, but if not, the memories of this beer have been great...Batch 103 is phenomenal...

 

...good luck finding it, Mike...if you do, I think you'll like it a lot...

...HoTD closed in June 2022...they had a fairly robust online sale of their remaining bottled beers, but even that shut down recently...