awards

  • Introducing the Internationally Award-Winning Vintage 2022

    By

    The very complex production process and the crucial bottle-conditioning are finally over: after the judges of the world’s most prestigious competitions, it is time for us too to taste the 2022 vintage of Thomas Hardy’s Ale, the progenitor among Barley Wines around the world, and its “sister” The Historical aged for months in wood.

    What better “green light” for release than three gold medals at some of the world’s most prestigious competitions? It was the flattering feedback gathered at The WineHunter Awards in Merano (Italy) and the Craft Beer Awards in London that convinced us that yes, Vintage 2022 is finally ready to meet the public.

    After all, as you know, Thomas Hardy’s Ale has always been brewed with traditional techniques and long fermentation and maturation times. Even once bottled, this unique 13% alcohol beer is only at the beginning of its evolutionary journey, which will last up to 25 years.

    Despite its young age, Thomas Hardy’s Ale vintage 2022 has already amazed the WineHunter’s sommeliers, who awarded it the gold medal without hesitation; a trophy that matches the silver medal won a few days later in London.

    Always packed in 33 cl bottles with the classic numbered and vintage dated label, this beer is able to offer new emotions after each year of maturation in the cellar.

    The successful Thomas Hardy’s Ale “The Historical” project also continues. Every year, a small quantity of the English Barley Wine is aged in different types of wood: from ex-Cognac, Bourbon, Scotch or Armagnac casks to the brand new French oak chosen for the 2022 vintage.

    Precisely because of this, this very special beer is softer and gently, despite the fact that the alcohol content reaches 13.1%, capable of repeating the gold medal from Merano at the British Craft Beer Awards.

    Here too, the 25 cl bottle size and the vintage and numbered label are confirmed, for collecting and preserving over the years.

    Produced only once a year in a few thousand bottles for various international markets, Thomas Hardy’s Ale and Thomas Hardy’s Ale The Historical are distributed by Interbrau.

  • Thomas Hardy’s Ale confirms its title of UK’s best Barley Wine and is now ready to travel across the Atlantic

    By

    New York State is the first to welcome Thomas Hardy’s Ale back to the US: the famous English Barley Wine, the finest in the UK according to the jury of the World Beer Awards, is being introduced in America with its Vintage 2017 for a special world preview.

     

    If there is any truth to the saying that winning is difficult but winning again is even more difficult, then the medal Thomas Hardy’s Ale won at the 2017 World Beer Awards is even more prestigious as it takes its place on the international brewer master scene.

    First of all, because winning the title of “Country Winner” (the UK’s best Barley Wine) two years in a row is no easy feat. A traditional style founded and confirmed right in England makes competition in this category of the highest level.

    This recognition is also a significant validation of the new work team led by the renowned English brew master Derek Prentice who has been capable of interpreting the recipe in the best way possible and re-establishing an authentic icon in the world of beers.

    An icon that American aficionados can finally enjoy after almost a decade: the American distribution network is still in its start-up stage but the very first bottles of Thomas Hardy’s Ale are already on sale in New York and Maryland, while experts in the industry in other American states will have an opportunity to meet Thomas Hardy’s Ale staff members during the upcoming NBWA Annual Convention in Las Vegas at the MHW Ltd. Booth Number 841.

    The product’s launching in the States also coincides with the world preview of the Vintage 2017, which won’t be released in Europe for another few weeks. We are all awaiting 2018 and Thomas Hardy’s Ale’s 50th anniversary which will doubtlessly deserve a very special edition…

     

    In the meantime, discover what Massive Beer Reviews thinks about the new Thomas Hardy’s Ale:

  • Thomas Hardy’s Ale wins another gold medal

    By

    The World Beer Challenge awards the fourth gold medal to the re-born Thomas Hardy’s Ale, back in production since 2015 after 7 years. In Estoril, Portugal, it is actually a double win thanks to the silver medal awarded to The Historical Ale matured in Hine Cognac barrels.

     

    There is undoubtedly a big risk involved whenever a piece of history that could even be considered legendary is revived. The Vecchiato brothers were well aware of this when, in the summer of 2012, they finalised the acquisition of the brand and the recipe of the legendary Thomas Hardy’s Ale, produced from 1968 to 1999 by the Eldridge Pope Brewery and later from 2003 to 2008 by O’Hanlon’s.
    Three years to carefully study its history, locate a brewery that could reproduce it, fine-tune the recipe and finally Thomas Hardy’s Ale was ready to be produced and, in 2016, it was officially launched on the market.
    The difficult comparison with the vintages of the past is amplified by the fact that this Barley Wine par excellence improves over the years, making a “direct comparison” with more mature vintages misleading.

    awards-1

    Nevertheless, the palates of the international judges immediately recognized the same mark as the original, awarding the “new” Thomas Hardy’s Ale three gold medals over the course of 2016, to which a fourth has now been added: that of the World Beer Challenge 2017, which awarded this prestigious award thanks to a score of 95.3/100.
    The same characteristics narrated by the English writer Thomas Hardy in his novel are what strike you the most and are also mentioned on the label of the Thomas Hardy’s Ale:

     

    “It was of the most beautiful colour that the eye of an artist in beer could desire;
    full in body, yet brisk as a volcano; piquant, yet without a twang; luminous as an autumn sunset;
    free from streakiness of taste, but, finally, rather heady.”

     

    A result that is echoed in the fact that The Historical Vintage Ale 2016 won its first medal ever, a silver in the category Wood and Barrel Aged, for its limited edition, matured for over six months in barrels that had previously contained French Hine Cognac.

     

You must be of legal drinking age to enter this site.

Please confirm your age: