Hardywood Park Kentucky Christmas Morning

This sweet, unctuous stout is brewed with local ginger, honey and roasted coffee beans and then aged in Bourbon barrels. It's a perfect Christmas morning surprise for any beer-loving adult, offering up cozy and comforting aromas of spiced fruit cake, dried dates, fresh gingerbread cookies, maple glaze and creamy coffee. The palate is smooth and seductive, with great opulence, though it's not overly thick or sticky thanks to the ample carbonation and warming baking-spice tones that help to keep the palate in check. The evolving finish takes your palate through a whirlwind of dark dried fruit to sweet spice and roasted coffee before finishing on a light whiskey-tinged char. Lauren Buzzeo