Hardywood Christmas Morning

Brewer's Notes: Hardywood Christmas Morning lends a cheerfully heightened decadence to our Gingerbread Stout through deep conditioning on locally roasted Blanchard’s Coffee Co. coffee beans. Hints of sweet honey and oven baked gingerbread greet the comforting nuances of freshly brewed morning coffee in this imperial milk stout. Skip the leftover cookies and milk and awaken your senses with this delightful holiday tradition.

Reviews
202601: I drank the second of two cans. It was a delight. The bitterness of the coffee cuts the sweetness of the stout.

Rating = 6 glasses

202512: I drank one of two cans from a Hardywood gift pack. It is nice, even for someone like me who does not like coffee. However, I am downgrading the rating slightly.

Rating = 5.5 glasses

(202203) The coffee balances some of the sweetness in Gingerbread Stout.

Rating = 6 glasses

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine-Style Ale

Brewers Notes: Bigfoot is a beast of a beer, brimming with bold flavors of bittersweet malt and heaps of aggressive whole-cone Pacific Northwest hops. First introduced in the winter of 1983, Bigfoot is a cult-classic beer brewed in the barleywine style, meaning a strong, robust, bruiser of a beer with the refined intensity of a wine. Bigfoot is prized by beer collectors for its supreme cellarability. Under the proper conditions, it can age like a fine wine, developing new flavors and character as it matures in the bottle. Each new release or “expedition” is vintage dated. Collect your own and see the flavors develop and progress.

BeerAdvocate

Tasting Notes

20260125: I am sipping a 15-year old 2011 vintage as I watch the snow fall and the Patriots play the Broncos for the AFC championship. It is a total delight. It combines caramel sweetness with a dose or subdued hop bitterness. I wish that I had more of this vintage.

20260117 I am drinking the first bottle from the first six-pack from the 2026 vintage. I was surprised to see Big Foot in Total Wine before the middle of December. Printing on the bottle indicates that the beer was bottled December 05, 2025.

In a war between hops and malts, hops wins. They are bitter, coat the tongue, and kick in after the swallow to give a sustained bitter after taste. Easily one for the hoppiest beers I have had. It is not for the faint of heart. 

202511: I drank a 5.5-year-old vintage from 2025. Yummy! The hops had mellowed slightly and some chocolate flavors emerged. 5.5 years is GOOD!

Aug. 2025: I drank a 19.5-year old 2026 vintage with a Pecan Bliss Bar (Our thick, crumbly oat cookie bar filled with chopped pecans, caramel and chocolate chips) from Shyndigz. Fantastic beer and pairing!! The head was minimal. The hops had mellowed down to a dark sour bitterness. Chocolate notes abounded.

Nov. 2023: I drank a ten-year old 2013 vintage with pumpkin cake from Shyndigz. The pairing was great. The beer still had robust flavors and the hops had mellowed some. I noticed a nice chocolate flavor coming forward. Yummy!

August 2023: I drank a 2023 vintage with Jen's Chocolate Cake at the conclusion of dinner to celebrate my 71st birthday. The beer continues to amaze me. What I noticed was the fantastic lacing clinging to the glass as it emptied. I revisited my review to see if I rated it 6.5 or 7 glasses. The flavor, color, and lacing merit 7.

Feb. 2022: The first 1.5 bottles of 12. Alex got the other 0.5. May not be as sweet as last years but it has hops galore. A flavor bomb. I plan to purchase another 6-pack.

Jan. 21, 2021: I drank the first bottle of a case of just released 2021 vintage. It paired wonderfully with carrot cake from Publix. It did not disappoint. Loads of caramel-sweet almost sticky malt coupled with tons of hops. At $13 a 6-pack, I think it is a great value for a fantastic beer. 

July 5, 2020: Bigfoot is the classic American Barleywine. It is a flavor bomb - tons of sweet malt and tons of bitter hops. It ages fantastically and my "cellar' has bottles dates 2006. It has been a favorite of mine for years. It goes great with carrot cake and other sweet desserts. My understanding is the "Barleywine-style" in the title arose because the ABC folks feared that buyers would confuse it with wine if the SN called it simply "Barleywine".

Rating = 7 glasses.

St. Bernardus Abt 12

Abt 12 is a classic quadruple. Beeradvocate classifies it as a Belgian Quadruple (Quad).

Brewer's notes: St.Bernardus Abt 12 is widely regarded as one of the best beers in the world. It is therefore no surprise that it is our brewery’s flagship beer, ranked at the very top of the St.Bernardus beer hierarchy. It is brewed in the classic quadrupel style and adheres to the original 1946 recipe.

St.Bernardus Abt 12 has a very fruity aroma that is the result of using our own unique yeast. It brims over with different, complex tastes and stands out through its long, bittersweet finish. Thanks to its mild, rounded taste and perfect balance between bitter and sweet, this beer goes down very easily. When you drink an Abt you can enjoy life to the full!

Tasting notes: 

20260119: Alex and I split 750 ml at a dinner the night before his 40th birthday. It is a pleasure.

Rating: 5 glasses

(1103) A deep complex beer w/ fruit and yeast notes. Upgraded from 5 glasses. 

(0908) Shared bottel w/ GS. Apples, borown sugar, wheat. w/ a spicy bite. Complex and way too easy to drink. Each sip called for more. 

Click here to read an earlier review.  Previous ratings: 5, 6, then 5 glasses 

Hardywood Kentucky Christmas Morning

Kentucky Christmas Morning is Christmas Morning aged in bourbon barrels. Christmas Morning is Gingerbread Stout with coffee. The coffee adds some bitterness to the sweet milk stout and then the bourbon adds back some sweet and more flavor. Wow! Beeradvocate classifies it as a Sweet / Milk Stout.

Brewer's notes: Hardywood Kentucky Christmas Morning is liquid proof that good things come to those who wait. Our original Gingerbread Stout takes an initial transformation through months of aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels, reaching new levels of maturity with layers of vanilla, coconut, and toasted oak. Before bottling, the barrel aged stout is cold filtered through heaps of freshly cracked locally roasted coffee beans from Blanchard’s Coffee Co, showcasing the nostalgic joys of Christmas Morning. Treat yourself, it’s been a long year.

Beeradvocate: Bourbon barrel aged imperial Imperial milk stout, aged in Kentucky bourbon, barrels with ginger, vanilla, honey, cinnamon, and coffee added.

Tasting notes
20260119: I enjoyed a bottle with some cupcake while watching the CFP championship game. The beer is a delight. Wonderfully sweet with hints of coffee and a nice touch of bourbon. I am returning the rating to 7 glasses. Maybe I should go with 6.5 glasses based on my review of Concealed Darkness but what more could a beer do?

Rating = 7 glasses

18 Oct. 2020

A bottle from 2018. I drank it after drinking a crowler of Concealed Darkness. (I had help.) Kentucky Christmas Morning is way sweeter and bourbony that Concealed Darkness. It is a BIG beer with Big flavors but I am downgrading the rating.

Rating = 6 glasses 

25 Dec. 2019

Kentucky Christmas Morning is Christmas Morning aged in bourbon barrels. The bourbon flavor is subdued and adds more complexity and some sweetness. 

Rating = 7 glasses.

Alewerks Intentional Stout

Intentional Stout is a fine stout. Beeradvocate classifies it as an American Stout.

Brewer's notes: Strikingly bold and irresistibly delicious, Intentional Stout is a no-gimmick American Stout with dark fruit and toasted bread notes. A natural richness is balanced by a generous addition of American hops. A roasty finish leaves the palate with the taste of dark chocolate and cocoa.

Tasting notes
20260115: Intentional is a solid stout. The taste has chocolate and some licorice. It reminded me of Kalamazoo Stout. I am happy to drink more and may occasionally buy some for my cellar. 

Rating: = 3.5 glasses

Hardywood Pils

Pils is a fine pilsner. Beeradvocate categorizes it as a German pilsner.

Brewer's notes
Crisp, clean and incomparably quaffable, Hardywood Pils sparkles a brilliant shade of gold with a rich, cloud-white head. Hand crafted with only the finest European pilsner malt and German noble hops, Pils is patiently conditioned for weeks in our lagering tanks, maturing into a beer that refreshes the palate and satiates the soul. This classic pilsner is the quintessential lager beer in its purest form, brewed in strict accordance with the Reinheitsgebot Law. Hardywood Pils is a nod to old world tradition offered by the innovative brewers at Hardywood. Prost!

Tasting notes 20260114: Pils is balances a wheaty malt and gentle bitterness. It paired well with no-tomato pasta sauce and artichoke pasta. It is solid and quaffable.

Rating = 4 glasses

Sierra Nevada Springfest IPA

A "small" IPA that drinks like a pilsner. The color is very pale and the taste is simple and good. The flavor features lemony hops with low bitterness for an American IPA. It is a great beer if you just want to drink a good beer.

Beeradvocate

Brewer's notes: We owe everything to the land, and to those that cultivate it. Springfest IPA is our tribute to farmers who make it all possible. A vibrant celebration of Spring, this radiant IPA blooms with citrus blossom aromas drawn from organic hops and sustainably sourced barley. It’s a small taste of our larger commitment: to source half our ingredients through sustainable farming by 2030.

Tasting notes
20260112: A second surprise from my latest purchases at Total Wine. The beer is refreshing and crisp. At 38 IBUs is will not melt your taste buds but, rather, pique them like a good pilsner. The hops featured some lemon and spice flavors. The beer is quaffable and could be an ale substitute for pilsner. The beer is hard to rate because, IMO, it lacks the bitterness I look for in an American IPA.  I want more!

Rating: 4.5 glasses. 

3 Floyds Alpha Klaus

Alpha Klaus is a delicious Christmas porter. I think that it tastes like Christmas. BeerAdvocate classifies it as an American Porter.

Brewer's notes: Alpha King’s festive cousin. A big American Christmas Porter brewed with English chocolate malt, Mexican sugar, and tons of strange American hops. The pronounced hop bitterness gives way to flavors of molasses and chocolate from the roasted malt bill.

Tasting notes
260113: After drinking a few more after Christmas, I am upgrading the rating.

Rating = 5.5 glasses

2511:  A great Christmas Ale.

2511: The brewer's notes are spot on! 

Rating = 5 glasses

2311: Alpha Klaus tastes like it has chocolate and maybe cinnamon; but the brewer's notes do not mention any extracts. The beer is pleasant and a nice variation of a Christmas Ale. It is easy to drink and the flavor is interesting.

Rating = 4 glasses

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

Edmund Fitzgerald is a fantastic porter. Beeradvocate classifies it as a Robust Porter.

Brewer's Notes: Robust and complex, our porter is a bittersweet tribute to the legendary freighter's fallen crew--taken too soon when the gales of November came early.

04 Jan. 2021
The more I drink the beer the more I like it. I am upgrading the rating.

Rating = (at least) 6 glasses

11 Nov. 2020
Edmund Fitzgerald is a fantastic porter. It is complex with some nice smoke and chocolate. It packs plenty of flavor into a beer while remaining "lighter" than stout and quite quaffabe. It will be a regular in my "cellar" if it remains available. 

I now have two nice dark beers to include in my rotation for a while. Smuttynose Robust Porter reappeared in stores recently following the brewer's declaration of bankruptcy. It joins Edmund Fitzgerald as a great choice for regular consumption. Smuttynose Robust Porter is bigger. Edmund Fitzgerald is more complex.  

Raters on Beeradvocate love the beer. They rated it as one of the top 100 beers back in the day.

Rating = (at least) 5 glasses.

August 2019
Edmund Fitzgerald is a malt forward American porter. Sweetness leads, followed by light chocolate. Easy drinking and nice flavor.

Rating = 4, maybe 5, glasses. I need to investigate more.

Surly Hell

Surly Hell is a great example of a Helles.

Brewer's notes: "German for “light,” Hell is a pale gold lager with bready malt sweetness, floral hops, and a crisp, balanced finish."

Beeradvocate: "Not unlike a Zwickel Bier from Germany, Hell is not filtered and fermented with lager yeast. American hops takes a back seat to the Pils malt sweetness and fresh bread aroma. The color is well... hell (Deutsch for light). It's fiendishly drinkable, and you don't have to sell your soul to get another."

Tasting notes
20260111: The first can of a four-pack purchased on somewhat of a whim from Total Wine. I was surprised by how much I liked it. It fits the description of the style in BeerAdvocate well. "Helles lager beers offer a touch of sweetness that balance a measurable addition of spicy German hop flavor and light bitterness. The malt character is soft and bready, making it a terrific complement to light dishes such as salad or fresh shellfish, like clams. Clean and crisp, this is a refreshing beer with substance." The beer has a nice touch of sweetness balanced by grassy and spicy hops. It has substance and is easy to drink. I think that I could add it to my regular rotation of beers to have in my "cellar". 

Rating: 4.5 glasses and thought about 5.

Weihenstephaner Festbier

 

Brewer's Notes: A full rich bodied, hoppy, seasonal lager. Especially brewed for the Festbier season. This beer truly represents the Bavarian way of celebrating. Deep gold color, great mouth-feel and lots of flavor. Prost! 

BeerAdvocate

Festbier v. Märzen

Tasting Notes

August 2023

Nov 2022

I am updating the rating. I went back to buy more and keep liking it more and more.

Rating = 5.5 glasses

02 Oct 2022

I am back to really liking the beer. It drinks easy and goes great with food. One bottle calls for another.

Rating = 5 glasses and I thought about 5.5

10 Oct. 2020

With more tastes, I am downgrading the rating to 4 glasses. 

Rating = 4 glasses.

05 Oct. 2020

Festbier is a great Oktoberfest beer. It is light enough to encourage drinking massive quantities and flavorful enough to enjoy every sip and gulp. The more I drink Oktoberfest beers, the more I appreciate ones that are more delicate and quaffable. Festbier fits the bill. 

I like it better than the raters on BeerAdvocate. Some of them complain that the beer is more a Helles or Pilsner than an Oktoberfest beer. I call it good.

Rating = 5 glasses.