Hair of the Dog
The Hair of the Dog (HotD) Tasting Room is a new venue for this brewery, although how new I am unsure. It is new enough that they haven’t updated the address on their website. Not so new that I wasn’t able to find out that they’d moved. It’s off the road most travelled (MLK Boulevard) and down an innocuous looking side street (SE Yamhill), in an industrial looking building. You wouldn’t find this place unless you knew about it. The approach gives the whole experience a slightly mystical tinge. You’re on a pilgrimage of sorts, to the microbrew equivalent of the Lourdes.
The tasting room is a hole-in-the-wall place in the best sense of the term. There’s a bar, a small open air kitchen, and tons of tables. The tables are wood and the décor simple. I found their staff to be friendly and welcoming.
The food menu is small and features regular pub style food, probably there to help soak up the alcohol (HotD beers are notoriously strong, with most of them 10%+ abv). There are a few specialty soft drinks for the DDs amongst us. The big draw, and focus, is on their beers; it’s clear that the tasting room is meant to be just that.
The tasting room offers an extensive back catalogue of their beers, including bottles of their first batch of Adam for $75 a pop. I refrained, saving my powder to try a variety of their beers.
The sacrifices I make for you, dear reader, should not go unappreciated.
I ordered 3 oz tasters of five of their beers, coming to $10. Yes, beer is incredibly inexpensive in Portland. The glasses were clearly designed with this purpose in mind. As I said, this tasting room is here to showcase the beer.
Greg: No head. Golden colour. A fresh squash nose. Bitter. Very sweet. The notes say that this is made entirely from squash- no hops. Odd little beer, but not unenjoyable.
Blue Dot: Dark, golden color. No head. Citrus nose. Very bright, citrus flavour. Clean aftertaste. Lovely double IPA.
Fred: Muddy ochre color. Fruit nose. Very sweet front that gives way to a bitter, sour aftertaste. Tastes like it earned its 10% abv.
Doggy Claws 2009: Deep, rich mahogany color. Fruit on the nose. Sweet, fruit flavour with a lovely malt finish. An almost sour aftertaste. I don’t typically enjoy barleywines, but I did enjoy this.
And, of course:
Adam: Beautiful dark brown color that’s almost black. Gorgeous head- thick and rich looking. It almost looks like a stout. Leather and smoke on the nose. Chocolate and smoke flavour, and surprisingly not bitter. The flavour lingers in the mouth. Heavy mouthfeel. Dangerous, because it doesn’t taste like it is 10% abv. Dangerous, because I now yearn for this beer. It’s the type of beer that inspires myths and legends. It’s probably the beer they serve in Heaven.
Overall, this is a mediocre eatery and a fantastic tasting room with friendly, knowledgeable staff. It has limited food. It’s not the most luxurious locale.
But you don’t go to HotD for the food (although it did smell pretty good). You don’t go for the décor (although it was nicely laid out). You don’t go there for a first date (unless your date is a zythophile, and then you should consider marrying her immediately). You go to support an innovative brewer (I can’t think of another beer like Adam, nor like Greg). You go because of its hallowed status in the beer world (there’s a reason Adam goes for exorbitant amounts in Toronto). Most of all, you go for the beer.
Head there and drink up.
(Ed. Note: Everyone I know went to Portland this week. I’m incredibly jealous. The preceding post was, of course, written by Alex Nixon. He has recently been promoted to Senior West Coast Correspondent for the purposes of sounding semi-legitimate.)