Bourbon Cru
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Richmond, Virginia, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Rotating|
Score
7.52
|
|
Hardywood Bourbon Cru is brewed in the fashion of the abbey quadrupel, the grand cru of many of Belgium’s revered monastic breweries. Bourbon Cru displays a sunset orange hue with a substantial head and brilliant clarity after months of barrel ageing. The maturity and melding of flavors brought on by the freshly drained, half-decade old Virginia bourbon barrels from Fredericksburg’s A. Smith Bowman Distillery lends an extraordinary sense of harmony to Bourbon Cru. Almond toffee and oaky vanilla aromatics give way to dark cherries, raisins and mature whiskey. A bit of plum flavor is greeted by caramel overtones and an assertive yet incredibly rounded body and a lingering, bourbon-laced finish.
Sign up to add a tick or review
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8.5
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
a: clear-ish light brown body | almost no white head
a: bourbon (duh!) | oak | light grain
f: vanilla | caramelised sugars | cedar end
t: drying | thin malts | complex pitted fruits
o: super polished (age?) | great toffee notes | tastes closer to ~7/8 per cent alcohol!
stubby twelve ounce bottle | Giant (grocery): Alexandria (Potomac Yard), Virginia | 15-April-2021 | US$4,29 | no bottling date | sampled: 17-April-2026
a: bourbon (duh!) | oak | light grain
f: vanilla | caramelised sugars | cedar end
t: drying | thin malts | complex pitted fruits
o: super polished (age?) | great toffee notes | tastes closer to ~7/8 per cent alcohol!
stubby twelve ounce bottle | Giant (grocery): Alexandria (Potomac Yard), Virginia | 15-April-2021 | US$4,29 | no bottling date | sampled: 17-April-2026
Tried
from Bottle
from
Giant Food (Shaw)
on 17 Apr 2026
at 17:08
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottled maroon pour. Oak and vanilla. Boozy with malts ND plums. Pretty nice beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 May 2025
at 01:22
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
12oz bottle pours out cola brown topped with tan head. Nose is nice sweet caramel toffee malts bourbon barrel nice pitfruit and spice. Taste is more of the nice sweet caramel malts some toffee pitfruit some spice and a nice bourbon barrel.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Aug 2024
at 02:40
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Draft: Poured a deep brown with bubble. Aroma is boozy, bourbon, dark fruits, dates, malts. Taste is boozy, bourbon, dates, dark fruits, alcohol but well hidden.
Tried
from Draft
on 19 Feb 2024
at 21:54
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Deep with minimal head. Dark ripe fruits, molasses, bourbon, some oak, plum, raisin. Medium bodied. Full and delicious.
Tried
from Draft
on 30 Dec 2022
at 08:05
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Stubby from Tavour. Pours clear, dark mahogany with a slight, transient tan head. Aroma is dark fruits, heat and bourbon. Approaching full bodied. Flavor is plummy, maybe with some cherry, heat, bourbon, caramel tending toward dark for malt support. It's not dry, but not at all sticky. Bitter, but I'm not sure what that's from. Touches of non-musty wood. Excellent flavor.
Tried
on 06 May 2022
at 00:35
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
750 ml bottle. Shiny orange-red-brown, clear, with lace. Pretty. Nose is oak, caramel, vanilla, spicy yeast, oranges. Tangy, fruity, sweet molasses and toffee, vanilla and bourbon. Great and original stuff.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Aug 2021
at 05:48
7/10
Hazy dark amber body small foamy tan head. Toffee caramel fruity aroma. Toffee caramel molasses fruit flavor. Medium body moderate carbonation. 7/4/8/3/15 3.7
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Jun 2021
at 21:36
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
12 ounce bottle purchased at Total Wine in Reston, VA - pours a lightly hazy amber - nose is strong with bourbon-soaked oak and mild funkiness - flavor is sweet, but with a surprising level of developing dryness after the approach - dark fruit, caramelized sugars, followed by a slight funkiness, light oxidation, a touch of leather - the alcohol warmth gets fairly intense at times, but mellows out in the finish that has some lingering dark fruit, dusty yeast, slight funk - nicely complex, but not everything comes together as smoothly as I’d like.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Jun 2021
at 21:30
7.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
750ml bottle from Tavour. Small pop on opening, hazy mahogany , small fizzy head. Aroma is raisins, plums, brown sugar with a hint of booze. Taste starts out sweet, pit fruit, molassess, some barrel notes. Not overly boozy and relatively smooth.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Jun 2020
at 20:45