Tonight is Christmas cookie baking night and for about 4 hours, my wife's family takes it upon themselves to make sure we're all stocked up for the season, and then some! Monster cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter, and of course gingerbread cookies. I'll be reviewing my own gingerbread stout tomorrow, but for tonight we're going to spoil ourselves rotten.
My brother and sister-in-law snagged a bottle of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery's Gingerbread Stout. It's been about a year since I had this last, but if my memory serves me correctly, I'm in for a sweet and decadent treat to compliment the cookies.
This beer has some pretty solid awards to back it up. You can check for yourself at the link above. Beer Advocate users give it a 4.3 out of 5 in over 1,000 ratings while Ratebeer.com gives it a 99 (out of 100) overall. That many people just can't be wrong. Besides, I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 myself a year ago with a taster glass full. I can enjoy slightly more this time around!
The beer poured a jet black opaque color with a very hearty and frothy brown head at the top. The aroma was also decadent with sweet molasses, slight hints of honey, cinnamon spice and even some sweet bourbon (at least when it warmed up a bit). For a 9.2% stout this thing was smooth and sweet. Flavors explode on the palate and are so well balanced you forget for a second that it's so high in ABV. The ginger flavor is balanced with the malts which is balanced with the spices. A sticky maltiness is present, lingering on the tongue with the rest of the spices and ginger. Vanilla bean added here simply tied everything together so well. Not much else other than to say that this this is pretty darn good.
Absolutely well done! This is a 5 out of 5 through and through. I don't rate much at a 5, but this stout deserves it. I wish it got slightly further north in distribution because I'd make sure to have just one more bottle at Christmas.
If you've not had it, you're missing out. Make sure you snag this if you see it. The price point may be a tad north of what you'd pay for most bomber bottles, but I assure you it's worth the cash.
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