Brewed: October 15, 2016 OG: 1.094 FG: 1.021 IBU: 60 ABV: 9.7%
Hair of the Dog is one of my favourite breweries. I have immense respect for Adam’s unique and delicious beers, which he’s been making with minimal or no change since the mid 1990s. Craft beer was not what it is today in those times; he is truly a pioneer. Adam is a very interesting and unique beer, and the way it develops over time is incredible.
I have been wanting to brew a clone based on Michael Tonsmeire’s clone from 2009 for a while now. It came up when chatting with my friend Ryan, who is a very accomplished homebrewer as well as commercial brewer, and we agreed it would be a great collaboration brewday since we both wanted to make something like it. I adapted the recipe slightly (largely based on my use of heavy peated malt rather than just ‘peated malt’ as it appears is used in Tonsmeire’s version) and we brewed this on my Grainfather system.
Anticipated OG: 1.099 IBU: 60 
Grist:
15.00 lbs Maris Otter (Crisp malting) [88.2%]
0.65 lbs Munich [3.8%]
0.65 lbs Crystal 60L [3.8%]
0.35 lbs Chocolate malt [2.1%]
0.20 lbs Heavy peated malt [1.2%]
0.15 lbs Black malt [0.9%]
Hop Schedule:
1 oz Galena @ 120m
1 oz Styrian Goldings @ 45m
1 oz Tettnang @ 10m
1/2tsp ‘Yeast Superfood’, 1 Whirlfloc @ 10m
Fermentation:
2 pkg WYeast 1728 @ 57F for 7 days, ramped to 70F afterwards
Tasting Notes:
Oct 22, 2016 – One week in gravity of 1.028. Peat wasn’t too noticeable on brew day but it’s come to the fore now. Not overpowering though. Malt profile is pleasant and interesting already, looking forward to how this develops.
Nov 22, 2016 – Two weeks in bottle, carb-check. No carbonation yet, which isn’t surprising (I should have been more patient!) I wish it kept more residual sweetness. The smoke is at a nice level though, lending some leathery complexity and coming across as kind of a BBQ note rather than cigarette or anything off-putting like that. Not really any smoke on the nose, mostly plum.
Jan 2, 2016 – Carbonation is there now, and it’s about perfect at the moment at around 1.5 volumes. Nose is plums, BBQ smoke, toffee. Taste follows suit – the level of peat is just where I wanted it, present but integrated nicely. Plum, toffee, chocolate and smoke are all in balance with none overshadowing the others. I’m quite happy with this bottle, and the slightly drier finish than I was hoping for has not done the beer any harm at present.