Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws Barleywine is a canine I want to adopt

Enjoying a big beer my last evening before I head to NYC. There's a rich caramel aroma as I pour this pooch out on the deck at day's end. Barleywines, my friends, are my kinda dogs. Will this brew be a yellow lab or a hairless chihuahua?

Hair of the Dog's other ales are named after people in either the brewing world or the owner's personal life - Ruth, Adam, Fred - you know, the type of four letter words one doesn't need to spell out in front of kids, like Love or Twat. So why not a name like something like Nick or Tedd for their Barleywine? Because at 11.5% alcohol and 70 IBU's, Fido here has claws.

There is a sweet, rich caramel flavor profile and a bold, unique hop flavor. The hops used are Simcoe, which typically departs a very bold and earthy flavor, and the Amarillo, which departs a very citrus flavor. They also used wild flower honey, which only helps the flavor imparted by the Amarillo hops. Right now the brew is tasty, but in another 6 months the hops will smooth out to make a more balanced barleywine. Still, I love in your face Barleywines and I'm looking forward to my next time with Doggie Claws. THE ROCK rating.

Hair of the Dog Adam is an Old Ale meant for Don Draper

I'm watching the Lakers game, but it's starting to annoy me because each time Lamar Odom scores, I know that somewhere Rancor known as Kloe is clapping and I strongly dislike her, to put it mildly. For many reasons, but most strongly because I pass this billboard every morning on my commute, and it's just too much at 8am.

Gross

People who are famous for no reason+Reality Show+Annoying People+Shirtless shooting guards for basketball team I don't like = everything I hate about this billboard which I see everyday. But it is beer like today's and shows like Mad Men which help me forget these horrible images.

Old Ale is a style of beer which I've read about but never had the privilege to sample. It's a high alcohol beer with a complex full malt body. David is on a flight to Aspen tonight so I'm having this one solo.

 

The Hair of the Dog Adam has 10% alcohol and is made with an organic pilsner malt and Northwest Hops. Pilsner is an incredibly light and thin grain, and I'm excited to try such a dark beer created using a pilsner base malt. My tongue is no wizard, so I read the label to discover what flavors to expect - chocolate, smoke, leather and figs. That's a hell of a complex profile! I'm stoked now, even though I'm traditionally skeptical of tasting claims made by labels, thanks to my inability to taste what is promoted on a wine label.

But sweet Betty Draper! This brew is complex. They weren't lying to me. I will now admit, these guys are straight shooters, like boy scouts at a urinal. You really taste each flavor advertised and they're all delicious. I've never chewed leather but it's about damn time I've started. Apparently I'm missing out. It's rare to find a beer that's not a barleywine with this complexity. Hair of the Dog Adam is an inspired beer and at $4.50 from Whole Foods, worth every penny. THE ROCK rating.

Don Draper is the shit. Even watching him drink himself to death in the third episode of the first season is inspiring. How can he do that? Recently, I've felt twinges of irritation about essentially forcing myself to drink everyday and the amount of blog entries posted have suffered because of it. But on evenings like tonight, feels damn good to prop your feet up and have a cold one whilst enjoy some 60's schadenfreude. Cheers Donald Draper.

Hair of the Dog Ruth trumps Obama's LA road closures

Today in LA was forecast to be the Obamapocalypse. El Presidente's last scheduled trip closed four vital rush hour streets and it took some people 5 hours to return home after work. Los Angeles was one match away from bursting into flames.

Like everyone else, I was all over the interweb trying to get the jump on the Secret Service's plans (bastards are unsurprisingly crafty) on the road closures. His route from Sony Studios to Brentwood crossed every road I could take to get home. At 6:30 my coworker Tiffany and I discovered a wormhole from our workplace to the marina that people were avoiding because it lead right past Sony where Obama was...but for the moment it was open (according to Google maps).

I took off and flew right past barricades and police command centers on Venice, which was wide open, and made it home in phenomenal time. It only took me 9 years but I finally beat LA traffic.

In celebration I joined Tiff and her friends at Alibi Room for some Kogi Short Rib and an appropriately Hair of the Dog (for just missing Obama's road closures).

Hair of the Dog Ruth is named after someone's granny, who was appropriately named. Anyone named Ruth is destined to be a grandmother, a librarian, or a delicious Baby made of chocolate covered peanuts, caramel and nougat (and eaten only on Halloween when you're awkward neighbor runs out of Milky Way).

As a grandmammy, I'd be proud of this beer my son brewed to honor me. Ruth is a Pale Ale with a smooth pilsner malt base and a burst of hops. It's clean and incredibly refreshing. The brew reminds me of Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin, only crisper. Ruth is very tasty, easy drinking and I hope to find these in a six pack somewhere to introduce at a Gentleman's BBQ this summer. THE ROCK rating.

Hair of the Dog FRED has a great personality, as I'm sure Irina Shayk does as well

I watched KICK-ASS with AJ, Nic and Tiff tonight and it was amazing! Why did it do so poorly? Anywho, I returned home and poured a Hair of the Dog 'Fred' series. Fred wasn't the owner's favorite dog or his son, the name is a tribute to legendary Fred Eckhart, Father to Aaron Eckhart (*citation needed) and it's made from organic pilsner, rye malts, and Belgian candy sugar.

Also...

HAHAHAHAHAHA, boobies

I'm hit with the distinctive smell of both the sugar and the rye. I really like the taste - a bit intense but good. It's an unexpected 'good,' like waking up in middle of night and remembering other side of the pillow is cold. I tend to not enjoy rye beers but the clean pilsner taste and sweet sugar really mellow it out. The final product is an intense but complex beer that is unlike many I've had.

Rye with the Belgian sugar and pilsner malt? That's throwing together three different European brewing styles. I can only speculate how they conceived this creation, but if it was me brewing, this is how I would've created this beer -->

--> I would've been drinking all night, four sheets to the wind, and suddenly EUREKA! A light bulb pops up hazily over my disheveled orb I call a head. "I have a wild idea for a beer, listen to this!" I proceed to tell my two drinking buddies. They look at each other perplexed, but suddenly they go wild for it. Greatest idea ever! What a humdinger! (one of my friends is from the 1930's). And we make the beer that night, absolutely tanked. Kitchen looks like a WWI No-Mans-Land battle field. In the morning, we wake up and piece the events of the night back together. My friends think that was a ridiculous idea and ridicule me for the wild beer, the awkward embraces and the oddly sexual dancing to the musical CATS ....But weeks later, we bottle the beer from that night and Booyah suckers! It's delicious! I'm calling it Fred, in honor of Fred Astaire. My friends look at each other and say, yeah okay, everything's making sense now, what with all the Broadway show-tunes and hugging. THE ROCK rating.