Gingerbread Red
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

Look: It pours amber and clear with an off white head. Head retention is very good.

Smell: It has caramel and ginger notes up front with cinnamon in support. It has a touch of vanilla in the background.

Taste: It has a combination of caramel, ginger and cinnamon in the flavor. There are also a touch of vanilla and honey in support.

Feel: It has a medium light body with a spicy finish.

Overall, the beer seems a little thin for the ABV level that it is at. It does have a nice combination of flavors.

The beer pours a white and creamy head that dissipates quickly. The beer itself is a clear brown color that looks pretty nice. It strongly resembles a red ale more than it does a stout.

The smell has a nice herbal hop quality to it but is mostly dominated by the gingerbread (bread, ginger, and cinnamon) notes than the hop notes. The vanilla bean also comes out fairly strong compared to the other notes and can overshadow them sometimes.

The taste is similar to the smell but differs in that the bitter hop notes are more forward and come in first. The gingerbread comes in after followed by the vanilla bean notes.

The beer goes down smooth with a dry finish to it. It has a medium-heavy body and tingling carbonation to it.

Overall, it was a decent beer, and I didn't regret trying it. It didn't blow me away or anything but was a nice sip through the night.

Always hard to rate a hybrid beer because style ya only part of the analysis.

The spice in this beer reminds me of DFH Pennsylvania Tuxedo in a way. But the pine/spruce is vague in this beer versus the DFH offering.

This beer is nicely clear, despite a dark amber color fighting my ability to see through it. A nice foam atop the head leads to a fairly typical red/amber ale impression. The ginger and vanilla gain traction as I sniff.

Initial tastes fit a standard red ale, but earthy spice notes bring in a stale coffee note, though I could argue a slightly stale coffee note.

A nice take - I feel this isn’t a slapping of acted ale on a label to benefit from… a style no one is clamoring for? There’s enough classic parents a decently leveled hand that adds the spice.