The brand has gone under numerous owners over the years, but now is currently brewed under contract at Meantime Brewery.

In 1968, Eldridge Pope Brewery created a barley wine recipe to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Thomas Hardy.

A pint bottle sold for an English pound, a large sum of money at the time.

[3] In 2003 beverage exporter George Saxon bought the recipe and licensed it to be produced by O'Hanlon’s Brewery, but that arrangement ended in 2008.

[6] The original label suggested "This beer will improve if kept lying down at 55°F [13°C] and will last at least 25 years.