Hardywood Announces Holiday Gift Pack
Richmond, VA, September 13, 2023 --Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Virginia’s largest independent craft brewery, is excited to ring in the holiday season with the release of the Hardywood Holiday Gift Pack. The Hardywood Holiday Gift Pack will feature two 16 oz cans each of our best-selling holiday classics - Gingerbread Stout, Gingerbread Porter, Christmas Morning, and, for the first time available for distribution, the exclusive Fluffy GBS, in this joyous gift pack worth celebrating.
Just in time for the holiday season, the Hardywood Holiday Gift Pack will be available at retail partners beginning November 1 and released at both Hardywood taprooms on November 4.
The Hardywood Holiday Gift Pack will include the following:
Gingerbread Stout x 2 (9.2% ABV): Made with baby ginger and wildflower honey from local family-owned farms, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout captures the terroir of Central Virginia in a rich, creamy libation with a fresh snap of ginger in the finish. 100 Rating BeerAdvocate Magazine, 2012 Bronze Medal, Herb and Spice Beer, World Beer Cup, 2013 Gold Medal, Herb/Spice Beer, Virginia Craft Beer Cup, Top 25 Milk Stout in the World, BeerAdvocate.com
Gingerbread Porter x 2 (9.2% ABV): We heard from GBS lovers who don’t dig lactose and decided to do something about it! Meet Gingerbread Porter, an Imperial Porter brewed with heaps of chocolate and roasted malts and infused with our signature blend of local ginger, wildflower honey, and special GBS spices, but without the milk sugar. Happy holidays to our dairy-free friends!
Christmas Morning x 2 (9.2% ABV): Enjoy a cheerfully heightened decadence to our Gingerbread Stout with locally roasted Guatemalan and Colombian Coffee from Blanchard’s Coffee Co. Hints of sweet honey and oven-baked gingerbread greet the comforting nuances of freshly brewed morning coffee in this Imperial Milk Stout. Top 25 Milk Stout in the World, BeerAdvocate.com, 2015 Gold Medal, Specialty Beer, Rate Beer Best
Fluffy GBS x 2 (9.2% ABV): We took our Gingerbread Stout camping. We sat around the campfire, sticks, and marshmallows in hand, and when all was said and done, the idea was sparked to create Fluffy GBS. The taste of fresh ginger, wildflower honey, and chocolate malt you know and love are elevated to a new level with toasted marshmallows.
Since its development in 2011, Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout and brand extensions known as “GBS and Friends” have captured the attention and demand of local and national beer fans. Described by Beer Advocate as “Freagin’ Christmas in a bottle,” Gingerbread Stout is now distributed to nine states nationwide and has become one of Hardywood’s best-selling beers.
Brewed with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout resulted from a happy coincidence. In the fall of 2011, Powhatan farmer Bill Cox brought stalks of his fresh baby white ginger to the newly opened Hardywood and asked co-founders Eric McKay and Patrick Murtaugh and head brewer Brian Nelson if there was anything they could brew up using the mild, easy-to-process ginger root. The same week, the founding team met a local beekeeper who produced incredible wildflower honey. In a moment of epiphany, the idea was born to create a gingerbread stout, but there was no commercial precedent; Patrick, Brian, and Eric chose to forge ahead and invent the style themselves. Through some creative brewing techniques and the addition of whole Madagascar vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks to the local ginger and honey, Gingerbread Stout was born and quickly became a national sensation, and introduced Virginia to the phenomena of long lines for the much anticipated annual beer release.
As Hardywood has grown to better meet customer demand, the enthusiasm for its family of celebrated holiday beers has only become more fervent. The new Holiday Gift Pack will introduce more people to some of these top consumer-rated beers, encourage sharing and sampling the four variants in the spirit of the holidays, and create new reasons to raise a glass with friends and family.
“At Hardywood, we’re constantly looking for ways to innovate our products and delight our customers. Bringing the Hardywood Holiday Gift Pack to our distributors and retail partners will enable beer fans throughout our distribution footprint to partake in the celebrated tradition of Hardywood Gingerbread Stout season, and we hope these special beers contribute to your merriment with friends and family,” said Hardywood co-founder, Eric McKay.
Started in 2011, Hardywood has grown steadily across the Commonwealth since. The Wall Street Journal declared that Hardywood, now the market leader among Virginia’s celebrated craft brewers, is “inventing Southern beer, one batch at a time.” Today, Hardywood brews a wide range of award-winning ales and lagers and prides itself on being the first renewably powered brewery in the south, with 100% of electricity coming from wind and solar, and it sources many ingredients from local farms, highlighting its “Brew with Purpose” motto.