Hardywood Gingerbread Stout Season

The Virginia-based craft brewery brings its holiday beer to Georgia for the first time

GBS
Photo credit: Kyle LaFerriere
HOLIDAY BREWS: Pick up the Hardywood Gingerbread Stout and three other variants this winter

Richmond, Virginia-based Hardywood Park Craft Brewery recently began distributing in Georgia in June of this year, bringing a wide range of quality brews to local bottle shops and craft beer stores. The brewery is best known for its Gingerbread Stout, which is now available in Atlanta for the first time ever. Along with the local release of Gingerbread Stout, Hardywood is also distributing three additional variants throughout the winter season.

The Hardywood Gingerbread Stout is brewed with fresh baby ginger from Casselmonte Farm and wildflower honey from Bearer Farms, both local to Virginia. Creamy milk chocolate and vanilla fill out the body, finishing with sweet and spicy hints of honeycomb and cinnamon, and a warming 9.2 percent ABV. Last winter, Beer Connoisseur named it the best holiday beer in the world.

Bourbon Barrel Gingerbread Stout is aged for 12 weeks in Virginia bourbon barrels, developing a mellow character with oak, caramel and bourbon undertones. This one will be available Nov. 10 in 750mL bottles.

Christmas Morning is Gingerbread Stout conditioned with Mexican Chiapas coffee beans, roasted by Virginia’s Black Hand Coffee Co. You’ll have to wait until Dec. 1 to get this in 500 mL bottles.

Finally, Kentucky Christmas Morning will be available in 750 mL bottles Dec. 8. It’s the ultimate mixture of the other Gingerbread Stout variants, aged in bourbon barrels and cold-filtered through Black Hand coffee beans.

Six additional Gingerbread Stout Variants — Christmas Pancakes, Port Barrel GBS, Apple Brandy Barrel GBS, Caliente GBS, Mega GBS and Double Barrel GBS — will not be distributed in Georgia, but can be ordered from Hardywood’s website or picked up in person or by proxy from one of Hardywood’s three Virginia locations.

Enjoy these Hardywood brews as we roll into the holiday season! Creative Loafing is pushing local craft beer coverage, so to our friends in the Georgia brewing community: If you have a new release, a cool event, or big news coming up, let beer correspondent, Alex Patton, know at alex.patton at creativeloafing.com.