12 oz bottle , courtesy of shogokawada. Pour is a very rich looking, black color but does not have too much viscosity. Thin, creamy film forms on the surface of the beer. Initial tastes give some nice chocolate malts and a healthy does of booze. These are the main competing/complementing factors. As the beer warms we get more and more liquor and sherry notes and the brew really starts to come into its own. As expected the nose starts to develop with warmth, too; a malt bomb laced with somewhat...
Notes on beers brewed by
Harpoon Brewery
Harpoon Pott’s Landbier (100 Barrel Series #32)
22 oz bottle, gold foil with the usual 100 Barrel series presentation. Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Strange one this. I think if you had given me this in a blind taste taste I would have sworn it was Yeungling! Now, you can take that any way that you like. I don't dislike Yeungling, but as we all know it's hardly a bastion of high quality beer so... Pour is a pretty clear, mid-brown affair with a disappointingly poorly retained head and not much If any ) lace. Nose and tastes produce a slightly...
Harpoon Single Hop ESB (100 Barrel Series #31)
OK, it's not brewed in England and it's NOT a cask offering, and I could still be happy if it was taken down another 0.5% on the ABV, BUT, on the face of it this at least has the potential to help me out in my desperate and generally futile search for high quality ESB's in the USA. Let's see. Nice authentic color in the body with a deep, orange/amber hue. Head size is especially disappointing to me and the retention and lace should also be better for a beer of this ABV. Nose reveals little,...
Harpoon Crystal Wheat
Filtered wheat beer in the 12 oz bottle as a single from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. $1.19. The appearance is as expected with a decent head but little or no retention. Filtering means good clarity but somewhat lacking in character for me in its look. Lemon is very strong for me. the label suggests a "hint" but to me it somewhat overwhelms the beer and it certainly does a number on the wheat aspect of the brew. For this reason i found the beer difficult to drink and wondered why they...
Harpoon Chocolate Stout
Many thanks to DrDogBeer for the chance to try this as part of 2009 Secret Santa. Shared at The Brick Store. Pour is a fairly standard, mid-chocolate brown color with a better than expected head. Retention and lace are OK, not great, but OK. Nose is deinitely the strongest aspect of this beer wih a great, truly rich chocolate aroma coming from the glass even without much agitation. Very strong - very nice. Frankly, after that, things go downhill quite a lot. The beer is a little acidic and...
Harpoon Leviathan – Imperial IPA
On-tap, Taco Mac Metropolis, Atlanta, GA, USA. 16 oz pour. Solid orange color, tight head with some good retention and lace. Looks as it should. Big whiff of (what appears at first) to be a "West Coast" style hop profile. This does get toned down a little as the beer warms. This is repeated in the tastes and the beer drinks as though it's out of California to me. There's some residual sugary notes too, but to be honest this beer is what it is - a large DIPA with nothing much else going on....
Steve Stewart’s Firth Of Forth Ale (100 Barrel Series #22)
22 oz bottle with the usual 100 Barrel Series label presentation. Poured this one into the 0.5 L Harpoon IPA, reverse flared Stange-like glass. Pretty standard, deep copper colored pour with a bit of a disappointing head and very little lace. Even some agitation fails to produce much life - carbonation seems a little low. Nice clarity in the body though. Nose seems pretty neutral. Maybe some caramel notes. Taste has a simple balance of malts and hops, but lacks a lot of depth. Might be totally...
UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen
12oz single from Mac's Midtown, Atlanta, GA, USA. Part of a mixed $7.99 sixer. I hated the regular UFO (thought it was AWFUL on draft and in the bottle), so I was worried about this. Poured into the Sweetwater Pilsner glass it has a pretty good head but not much lace. Slightly cloudy with a decent golden color. Acidic fruit aroma, but it was not really distinguishable as raspberry. The taste is similar, but with more raspberry content. Unfortunately it is watery to me. The diluted effect seems...
Harpoon Barleywine (100 Barrel Series #04)
22oz bomber, as part of a recent trade - sorry, I forgot who - gold foiled neck, typical series presentation. Poured into the oversized wine glass. Hazy orange pour with a soap film on the surface. Alcohol legs, but no head as such. Sweet malty nose, but (surprisingly) lacks alcohol presence. In fact a serious lack of aroma. Balance, but surprisingly lacks bite for an American Barleywine. DISTINCT lack of length in the flavor and taste (aftertaste). This would be OK if it hit some English...
Harpoon Weizenbock (100 Barrel Series #21)
Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. $4.99, 22oz bomber, gold foiled top presentation as usual for the series. A mixed bag for the appearance; great, deep garnet color with good clarity, but the almost complete lack of carbonation, head and lace is disappointing. Plenty of banana notes in the nose and tastes, with some residual sweetness in the finish. A slight grape like, wine character too. Finishes with some fruit and bitterness. One of my favorite styles, this came up a little short for me....
Harpoon Glacier Harvest Wet Hop Beer (100 Barrel Series #20)
Thanks to Brewfan for a chance to try this. 22oz bomber, gold foiled top. Surprised at the simplicity of this beer considering it is part of the 100 series. Not that that it is a bad thing; in fact it's refreshing, but I did not expect such a brew as part of this series of beers. Anyway - pours a light amber color with a decent head and some pretty good lace. Touch of alcohol in the nose, but also some sweet grains - simple. Mouthfeel is a little viscous (slight syrup), again surprising...
Harpoon Octoberfest Beer
12oz single from Mac's Downtown, Atlanta, GA, USA. Best Before 11/22/07, dot-matrixed on the neck. Not quite sure why this is listed as an American Amber/Red in the BA db since it is called Octoberfest, drinks like a malty Oktoberfest brew and it says on the label that it is Marzen style. On well.. Atractive light orange body that is lively with plenty of carbonation. Large, frothy head with plenty of lace and decent retention. Ok, what we get here is a nice, malty bread based beer with a...
Harpoon Celtic Ale
12 oz single from Jax, Sandy Springs, Roswell Rd, Atlanta, GA, USA. $1.39. Jax in SS is a long, long way from the best store in the ATL but the ability to split sixers keeps bringing me back in when I am passing. Copper colored pour with great clarity. Small head and some lace. Fades quickly. Not much aroma to speak of. Quite a dry beer with a decent hop bite. Good malts back it up, quite tasty. A pretty dry and bitter aftertaste - surprising. A little thin for my tastes but this is largely in...
Harpoon IPA
Another one of those beers that I've had plenty of times but have never got around to reviewing. This one was bought at the Mellow Mushroom, Hilton Head Island, SC, USA. Pour is a decent mid-orange with a pleasing amount of lace and head. Nice looking. Plenty of citrus (lemon) flavors upfront with eveything wrapped in a dry, mild biting hop bitterness. Pretty one-dimensional in my opinion with a lack of malt presence strikingly evident. Like others have said, a soapy taste present, reminiscent...
Harpoon Munich Type Dark Beer
Delicious and simple. Deep and rich flavors with a great body and a tasty finish make this super-drinkable. Sweet, but a little bit of hop balance helps it a great deal. Lovely deep brown, rich pour with a nice head and some decent retention and lacing. romas are rich and coffee based. Coffee, toffee, caramel and deep malts abound to make this a very satisfying and tasty beer.
Triticus Ale (100 Barrel Series #10)
I've been waiting a long time to try this. I was NOT disappointed. The presentation is classy. Love the gold foil and the simple complexity (if that makes sense) of the label. It seems to promise much and give the impression of a premium experience. Like many, the "Wheat Wine" style is not one I'm especially familiar with, but this beer tastes and drinks like a cross between a Barleywine and a Doppelbock. Delicious, as it combines the best features of both, and eliminates the less attractive...
Harpoon Winter Warmer
Nice, if somewhat reserved Winter Warmer. Pour is standard, with a decent red/brown color, nice head and a little lacing. Mouthfeel and body are both pretty light, and I found the spices really rather reserved. Unlike some of this style, this is a beer you could comfortably drink year round. Not heavy at all. Smell is also laid back with not much in your face spice, rather just some in the background. Not sure if this is a great example of the style (the WW's are usually much more robust) but...
UFO Hefeweizen
Thought I would give this another chance following my review of the draught version earlier in the year. I shouldn't have bothered. This beer is thin, watery, pale and close to tasteless. It reminds me of dishwater. This is an incredibly disappointing beer from Harpoon.
UFO Hefeweizen
Very disappointing when I drank it at BB's in Memphis. I suspect that this is a brew that can vary depending on the place you drink it. The care that it is kept under and served with is likely to make a difference. I always feel that this style is particularly sensitive to it's treatment when served on-tap. Poor listless appearance. The Wheats/Hefe/Wits always have the potential to look like cold dishwater, and without a rocky head, good retention and lacing they can be somewhat unattractive....
Harpoon Ale
A sweet, malty taste is the pervading experience with this brew. Some decent carbonation but little or no head, with unsurprisingly little or no lacing. Enjoyable, but you would need to enjoy the maltier side of things to really appreciate this beer. Pours an amber color to reveal some cloudiness.