Harpoon Brewing
A New Leviathan From Harpoon
Harpoon Brewing (Boston, MA) has a Scottish inspired Leviathan in the works – Great Scott. A boozy wee heavy.
Leviathan Great Scott pays homage to the great Wee Heavy Scottish Ales of the past. This beer is a full-flavored, full-bodied dark ale with a complex malt character. The hint of smokiness is a tribute to the peaked malts that were historically used in Scottish brewing. Relax and enjoy with bagpipes playing in your head (kilt optional).
Style: Scotch Ale (Wee heavy)
Availability: 12oz bottles
Arrival: TBA
10.2% ABV
2011 In Review: Top 20 Craft Breweries
Not everybody knows the Top 2o craft brewers in the United States. To be considered craft, you have to produced less than 6 million barrels of beer a year. Overall in 2011, the beer business declined by 1.5% nationally. (When you factor in the large breweries.) The craft sector saw an increase of 15% growth in volume of barrels shipped. Here’s the Top 20 brewers ranked:
1. Sam Adams
2. Sierra Nevada
3. New Belgium
4. Craft Brew Alliance (includes Red Hook, Kona, Widmer Brothers)
5. Spoetzel (Makers of Shiner)
6. Magic Hat
7. Deschutes Brewing
8. Matt Brewing (Makers of Saranac)
9. Bell’s
10. Harpoon
11. Lagunitas
12. Boulevard
13. Stone
14. Dogfish Head
15. Brooklyn
16. Alaskan
17. Shipyard
18. Abita
19. Long Trail Brewing
20. Great Lakes Brewing
Harpoon’s Newest 100 Barrel Series Released – Black IPA
Harpoon Brewery’s 40th release in the 100 Barrel Series is a Black IPA brewed by Harpoon’s own Matt DeLuca. It was brewed with a new specialty malt called Midnight Wheat and flaked barley creating an almost stout-like appearance. I wanted this Black IPA to be a very hop-forward beer; having a huge, hoppy nose was important to me said Matt. He used Chinook, Simcoe, Cascade, Citra, and Ahtanum hops in the 7% ABV brew.
Style: Black IPA
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft
7% ABV, 67 IBUs
Matt talking about his creation:
It’s On! Brooklyn & Harpoon Bet On Super Bowl
Brooklyn Brewing’s President Steve Hnidy & Harpoon Brewing’s Dan Kenary have placed a have placed a friendly beer bet on the Super Bowl. If the New York Giants win, Harpoon has to pour Brooklyn Lager in their tap room and their staff has to wear Giants jerseys for a week. If the Patriots win, Harpoon IPA pours in Brooklyn with the staff in Pats jerseys.
Kenary:
“We are very confident that the Patriots will carry the day, and avenge the 2008 loss to the Giants,” said Kenary, who still cringes when he thinks back to pouring Brooklyn Lager four years ago.
Hindy:
“We know the Patriots had a better season record than the Giants. They are a great team,” said Hindy, clearly concerned about appearing over confident. “But the Giants have come together in the post-season. Eli Manning and his team have to keep it together for one more game.”
Just last week, Anchor lost a similar bet with Brooklyn. The 49ers loss means that Anchor has to pour Sorachi Ace, and wear Giants jerseys.
Harpoon Releases Vermont Spruce Tip (VID)
Tis the season for Christmas trees, so why not drink a beer with spruce tips in it? The next beer in Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series – Spruce Tip Ale brewed using spruce tips harvested from Vermont’s Downer State Forest.
The spruce tips were used in the same way finishing hops are used – in the boil and the whirlpool.
From the press release:
Harpoon Vermont brewer Tom Graham created the recipe and brewed this 100 Barrel Series beer. “I first got the idea for this beer when reading a great book called ‘The Homebrewer’s Garden.’ When spring finally came to Vermont, my wife and I gathered a pound of spruce tips and I brewed a homebrew batch using them,” says Tom. “I was pretty pleased with the results so I shared the beer with my colleagues here at the brewery. From there it blossomed into this 100 Barrel Series beer.”
Sourcing the spruce tips was no easy task. It required collaboration with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, and a team of enthusiastic spruce pickers. Harpoon staff and members of the brewery’s customer loyalty program, Friends of Harpoon, volunteered to help collect the spruce tips from Downer State Park over several days in the spring.
In order to maintain the spruce tips’ freshness until they were to be used for the brew, Harpoon’s long-time friends at the Vermont Foodbank offered to lend their airtight food preservation system. In appreciation of the Foodbank’s support, for every pound of spruce tips that were harvested Harpoon made a $10 donation to the Foodbank. In total, 212 pounds of spruce tips were harvested and the brewery made a donation in the amount of $2,120 to the Foodbank.
Like this beer’s 100 Barrel Series predecessor, the Catamount Maple Wheat, the Vermont Spruce Tip Ale celebrates Vermont and the craft beer drinking culture that thrives there. In June of 2000, Harpoon purchased a brewing facility in Windsor, VT and brews roughly 40% of their annual barrelage in the state. Visitors are welcome daily to visit the brewery in Windsor and sample Harpoon’s locally-brewed beers straight from the source.
Style: Winter Warmer
Hops: Chinook
Taste Expectations (Per Harpoon): The spruce tips impart citrus, pine, spice, herbal and earthy notes. A host of malts, a hint of roasted barley and generous use of Chinook hops complement the unique spruce flavor.
Availability: 22oz bombers, limited draft.
7% ABV
Spruce Tip Ale follows Docesna, & Rich & Dan’s Rye. Black IPAwill follow Spruce Tip next year.
VID: Sean Cornelius On Harpoon Docesna
Docesna, is the recent release in Harpoon Brewing’s 100 Barrel Series. The beer is an American pale ale, brewed with fresh hops from the fall harvest. The brewer of Docesna, Sean Cornelius chats about this edition.
Harpoon Chocolate Stout
Draft: Harpoon Brewing (Boston, MA) Chocolate Stout.
Ale w/ chocolate flavor
