Hair of the Dog Brewing Company Doggie Claws

Doggie Claws

 

Hair of the Dog Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon, United States 🇺🇸

  Barley Wine - Barley Regular Out of Production
Score
7.69
ABV: 11.5% IBU: 80 Ticks: 174
Doggie Claws is a Barley Wine made in the West Coast style. Big malt and hops make this copper colored ale one of our most popular products. Produced in September and October and released in November, this Beer will improve for years to come.
 

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7.3/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 7 Flavor 7.5 Texture 7 Overall 7.5
Tried on 15 Jan 2026 at 15:27

8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 10 Overall 8
Backlog June 2009 (2004 vintage). Clear reddish brown body under a small, pale beige head. Aroma has malt, dry fruit, caramel and vinous alcohol. Taste is sweet, rich malt, dry fruit, balanced bitterness and warming alcohol. Perfect body with long lasting, sweet aftertaste. A nice and solid American barley wine.
Tried on 30 Dec 2025 at 14:48

8.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 10 Flavor 8.5 Texture 9 Overall 9
12oz bottle via the most recent HOTD online basement sale. Several weeks to chill in the fridge. Stemless wineglass at home.

Nearly flat pour. Hazy, dark iced tea, a little lingering froth.
Potent sweet tea, lemon, grape forward port, leather & chocolate notes fume off the glass. 11/10
Taste is astringent grapefruit peel, sweet lemon & grape notes under a heavy layer of oily chocolate. Lingering grapefruit pith fights with the residual malt for last place. Final tiny twinge of leathery oxidation. Black tea burps. Aside from being a little too sweet for me this delivers on all fronts for an excellent price.
Very low carb, hidden abv, heavy body but lots of hops & a little acidity to cut it.

I could buy a candle in this scent. Excellent.
Tried from Bottle at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company on 01 Sep 2025 at 23:28

7.6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 7.5 Texture 7 Overall 8
Bottle shared at the June DCBeer share. Poured a rich amber color. Flavor was bright and bold with some youthful edge that suggests it could benefit from more age, like I had with the 2015 vintage. Still very enjoyable as is.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Jun 2025 at 19:15

8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
Bottle shared at the June DCBeer share. Poured a deep amber color. Flavor showed a nice balance of lingering resinous hops and muted sweetness. Smooth and really nicely aged.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Jun 2025 at 19:13

7/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 7 Overall 7
Bottle shared at the June DCBeer share. Poured a faded amber color. Most of the resinous hop character had dropped out, leaving a more mellow, muted profile. Drinkable, but past its prime.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Jun 2025 at 19:05

6.6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6.5 Flavor 7 Texture 7 Overall 6.5
Bottle shared at the June DCBeer share. Poured a dull brownish-amber color. Flavor was oxidized with little remaining character. Definitely past its peak.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Jun 2025 at 19:00

8/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 8 Flavor 8.5 Texture 8 Overall 8
[2020 Vintage] 12oz bottle. Pours murky brown with no head. Caramel malts, pine, and raisins on the nose. Flavour has barley, raisins, sticky toffee, some pine, lots of dried berries. Modest carbonation. Great complexity, fantastic barley wine.
Tried from Bottle at Belmont Station on 25 Apr 2025 at 00:08

8.4/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 9 Overall 9
Aromas are dark malt, figs, raisins, dates - lots of dark rape fruit. Flavors are similar to nose add in some toast with very good balance between bitter, sweet and carbonation. To me so far this is the best of the series. Really good.
Tried from Bottle at Hair of the Dog Brewing Company on 14 Mar 2025 at 04:28

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
[2012 Vintage] 12oz bottle. Pours murky brown with a white head. Caramel malts and grassy, piney malts on the nose; definitely some oxidization. Flavour has a similar hop profile, grass and hops, cardboard, bready malts. This is nice, I'm very suprised the hops have lived this long, definitely aged. Good, but definitely suffering for the age.
Tried from Bottle on 07 Mar 2025 at 02:48