Hair of the Dog - Dave

Has anyone here ever tried Dave from Hair of the Dog (Hair of the Dog Brewing Company - Beers - BeerAdvocate This beer looks nuts! I'm wondering if anyone out there would have a recpie for this behemoth. I'm sure that it was at least ice distilled to get that type of abv. Any help would be awesome.

If I understand correctly they took 300 gallons of Adam and freeze concentrated it down to 100 gallons, then barrel aged it for 15 years...

I just brewed (a variant) of the clone posted here: Homebrew Chef: HOTD Adam Beer it is supposed to be directly from the brewer. Don't worry about the peated malt, after two weeks it is pretty mellow already.

That should start you in the right direction, good luck.

I've had it. An interesting experience, but I can't imaging drinking more than an ounce of it. Doesn't taste much like a beer, more of a weak whiskey.

Well I decided to give this a shot. Last night, I took ~1/2 gallon of my Adam clone and stuck it in a big tupperware container in the freezer. Tonight I'll scrape it up (like a granita) and let it drain through a strainer lined with cheese cloth until the ice has given up most of the alcohol. Depending on how much concentration I get I'll figure out if I want to give it a second round of freezing

I am hoping to get enough for two 12 oz bottles. I’ll probably just toss a bourbon soaked oak cube in each and let them age until next winter.

The first freeze went well. I ended up with some big ice shards that a metal sieve took out well (it took about an hour of melting/drain time to get most of the color/sugar/alcohol out). This first concentration took out a bit less than half of the volume (the part removed had a gravity under 1.005). That put the alcohol (theoretically anyway) in the mid-upper teens.

So I put it back in the freezer and gave it another 24 hours, this time the concentrated alcohol/sugar prevent the beer from freezing to more of a loose slushy. I was only able to remove ~25% of the liquid. The gravity of the concentrated beer was 1.050 (double the FG), so that may mean that I “only” made it to around 20% ABV. A colder freezer (or maybe more time) would be necessary to get a better second freeze and an alcohol up near the 29% of the original.

I had enough eisAdam to fill two 12 oz bottles (each got an oak cube) plus a few ounces to sample. The flavor was noticeably darker than the base beer. The flavor wasn’t bad (but it wasn’t particularly complex), it certainly had a firm ethanol burn on the tongue even at that cold temperature. I probably will open one bottle next winter and one a year or two later.

I’ll be posting some photos of the process on my blog eventually.

Not sure if anyone but me is interested in this, but here are some photos of the freezing process: The Mad Fermentationist: EisAdam (HoTD Dave Clone)

Interesting experiment Oldstock. I have not tasted Dave but do like Adam and have thought about brewing up the clone. How does the clone compare to the original?

It hasn't even been in the bottle two weeks yet (so I haven't cracked one), but it is pretty close to how a young/uncarbonated Adam would taste in my mind (light smoke, some dark malt, pretty rich, but enough hops to keep to from being too sweet etc...). If I can track down a bottle of Adam I'll do a side by side once my beer has ~6 months of age in the bottle.

Oldsock said:

It hasn't even been in the bottle two weeks yet (so I haven't cracked one), but it is pretty close to how a young/uncarbonated Adam would taste in my mind (light smoke, some dark malt, pretty rich, but enough hops to keep to from being too sweet etc...). If I can track down a bottle of Adam I'll do a side by side once my beer has ~6 months of age in the bottle.

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Ahem

ragweed said:

Ahem

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Haha, it is coming soon, I just need a really cold night and the right group of people.

Oldsock said:

Haha, it is coming soon, I just need a really cold night and the right group of people.

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Let us know when we need to be over..

Still curious how this turns out. Keep us posted.

I just came across this thread while looking for ideas to approximate Adam. I'd love to hear how your version is side by side. I'm a BJCP judge and have friends who are as well if you want some unbiased feedback.

Oldsock said:

Haha, it is coming soon, I just need a really cold night and the right group of people.

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I don't think it is getting any colder over there this year. Have you tried this yet? I'm starting to plan my brews for next winter and thinking this will be one of them.

Beernip said:

I don't think it is getting any colder over there this year. Have you tried this yet? I'm starting to plan my brews for next winter and thinking this will be one of them.

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I was going to open it tomorrow, but the snow has delayed the gathering for a week. I'll report back soon.

Finally got around to drinking my final bottle with a couple friends earlier this week. The results were good (no oxidation), but i can see why the original was aged for years since mine was still pretty rough/boozy. The peat came through nicely though along with rice sweet dark fruit, very port-like

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/02/dave-175-abv-eis-beertasting.html

Certainly going to give this a try again soon with some other styles.