Hardywood The Great Return

The Great Return is Hardywood's take on a West Coast IPA. I like it. It combines a nice bitterness from a big dose of hops and a sweet malt backbone.

The name, Great Return, alludes to the return of Atlantic Sturgeon to the James River in Richmond.

BeerAdvocate

Tasting notes

20260329: I have drank several glasses of Great Return since my last review. I am liking it less. The flavor is too harsh. When I compared it to Center of the Universe Pocahoptas, I like Pocahoptas better. I am downgrading the rating.

Rating = 3 glasses

20201005: Previously, I rated it as my favorite Double IPA. The correct category is IPA. I am downgrading the rating from 6 glasses. 

Old rating = 6, 5 glasses.

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

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.

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

Hardywood Bourbon Barrel GBS

Bourbon GBS is what you get when you age Gingerbread Stout in VA bourbon barrels. It is massive, sweet, and bourbony. 

Brewer's Notes
Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, described by BeerAdvocate as “freagin’ Christmas in a bottle,” is an imperial milk stout brewed with vanilla beans, cinnamon, fresh Casselmonte Farm baby ginger and Bearer Farms wildflower honey. Gingerbread Stout is then matured in Virginia bourbon barrels, where it adapts an incredibly mellow character with oak, caramel and bourbon undertones, and emerges 12 weeks later as Bourbon GBS. A festive blend of spice character laces this rich, chocolatey stout, which warms the palate and the soul.

55 IBU

Beeradvocate

Tasting Notes
20251206: Big, sweet, and bourbony. I had it with steak. It would go great with dessert.

Rating: 6 glasses

Hardywood Gingerbread Stout

Brewer's Notes: Made with baby ginger from Casselmonte Farm and wildflower honey from Bearer Farms, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout captures the terroir of Central Virginia in a rich, creamy libation with a velvety mouthfeel and an intriguing evolution of notes from milk chocolate and vanilla, to honeycomb and cinnamon, to a snap of ginger in the finish. We hope Hardywood Gingerbread Stout contributes to your merriment this season.

Reviews

Nov. 25, 2022

I shared the last bottle dated 201612 Alex last night with Thanksgiving dessert. Six years of aging makes the beer a delight. It is plenty sweet with a nice ginger kick. 

Rating: I am leaving the rating at 5.5 glasses but think aged bottles are better.

 

(202002) I drank a bottle dated 201612, meaning the beer has aged a little over about 5 years. Aging makes the beer yummy. Flavors are muted like a three-day old stew. Patsy picked up hints of port. Alex thought that the ginger shined through. I really liked it.

I also drank a glass on draft recently. It was a disappointment. Tasted off. This is my second bad experience with Gingerbread on draft at Postbellum.

Rating = 5.5, up from 5, based on the 5-year old bottle.

(201911) Hardywood Gingerbread Stout is a BIG Milk Stout. It contains vanilla, cinnamon and local ginger and honey.  The taste varies from year to year. I described my first glass years ago as like drinking chocolate gingerbread cake. Last year's version was a disappointment. Hardywood is back on their game this year. Back to being chocolate gingerbread cake with a titch of cinnamon sauce on top. It is a beer you want to drink slowly and best one beer per evening.

Rating = 5 glasses

Hardywood Baltic Sunrise

Brewer's Notes: Hardywood Baltic Sunrise is conditioned on locally roasted coffee beans from Black Hand Coffee Company in Richmond, VA. Our Baltic Porter is an invigorating, full-bodied lager with a bold aroma of freshly brewed coffee preceding notes of bittersweet chocolate, hints of dark cherry, and a malty, smooth finish.

BeerAdvocate

March 26, 2021
Baltic Sunrise is a nice beer. Coffee flavor is evident but not overpowering. It lacks what I look for in a Baltic Porter.

Rating = 3 glasses

Hardywood Bourbon Cru

Dec. 26, 2020
Oh no, a disappointment. The bourbon flavor is much too strong and overwhelms the Grand Cru. Also, I am not sure the bourbon is good. The beer has aged at least 1.5 years. I purchased it in May 2019. Perhaps the bourbon comes forward with age. Or maybe the beer varies by year brewed. The result is a dramatic decrease in rating. I might buy another bottle to try the beer again.

Rating = 3 glasses

May 10, 2013
Wow! A wonderful beer. A nice Grand Cru aged in bourbon barrels. The bourbon is present but not overwhelming and the underlying quad adds sweetness, depth and complexity. The 10.2% ABV is hidden but will hit you hard if you are not careful. A wonderful use of Bourbon barrels and a rare twist for a quad. Inventive and delicious.

6 glasses