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Hardywood owners Eric McKay and Patrick Murtaugh sporting masks from "The Phantom of the Opera" (Photo courtesy Hardywood Park Craft Brewery)
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"Phantom" cast members and honorary brewers Ali Ewoldt, Paul Schaefer and Rodney Ingram (Photo courtesy Hardywood)
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The brewing team for Hardywood's Broadway beer; The Happy Hour Guys, Mark Aldrich and Jimmy Ludwig, are at top left. (Photo courtesy Hardywood)
We all know Richmond’s craft beer scene has earned a national rep.
Well, now it’s about to hit Broadway.
Beginning early next year, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery will see a yet-to-be-named beer poured in the lobby of the Majestic Theatre in New York City, in conjunction with the current run of "The Phantom of the Opera."
How did a local brewery find its way to the world-famous theater district?
The answer — surprise! — is a lot easier than practice, practice, practice.
Last January, Matt Shofner, Hardwood’s marketing manager, was researching names for beer and came across an article about Rise Up Rye, the first of six “Broadway Brews” selections curated by The Happy Hour Guys, Mark Aldrich and Jimmy Ludwig, a pair of actors and craft-beer enthusiasts. To make Rise Up, their liquid homage to “Hamilton,” they brought cast members together with brewers to craft a drink and benefit a cause.
Shofner, whose own resume spans the worlds of theater and beer, read the piece and immediately thought, Why not us?
“My natural jazz hands took control of my whole body, and before I knew it,” he says, “I was writing Mark and Jimmy to make sure Hardywood was the next brewery on the list.”
Shofner was persuasive. But even more important, The Happy Hour Guys were taken by Hardywood’s beers, story and community commitment.
In conjunction with The Happy Hour Guys, “Phantom” cast members and honorary brewers Ali Ewoldt, Paul Schaefer and Rodney Ingram, along with Hardywood’s head brewer, Brian Nelson, and owners Eric McKay and Patrick Murtaugh, concocted a black lager that is fresh and bright, with subtle pecan and chocolate flavors. “It's the perfect beer to represent both sides of the Phantom,” says Shofner, alluding to the “danger and mystery that manifests itself through his very human desires for love and connection.”
A naming contest for the beer is underway — we’d like to propose “Red Death,” an homage to the Masquerade Ball scene in the musical — and the brewery soon will announce the charity it will benefit.
And the New York City collaborations don’t end there for the local brewery. Next year "The Phantom of the Opera" will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and Hardywood is planning another beer, a sparkling ale with champagne yeast and rose hips, to commemorate the occasion and be served at the Rainbow Room in Manhattan.
If you can’t make it up to New York City in time, don’t sweat it, Richmonders. Hardywood will be pouring its star beer at the brewery, too.
