Beer Review: Harpoon Grateful Harvest

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.9 percent

Appearance: Grateful Harvest pours a very attractive shade of brown/amber. The color of the body also boasted some strong and visible ruby red highlights. The body was topped-off with a fluffy off-white head which had some abnormally large bubbles in it. That didn't seem to bug me much, though. The head was also able to leave some ample lacing on the way down. It was just slightly noticeable.

Smell: This beer had a strong backbone of caramel, toffee and sweet malt. That was complimented by an intense tartness from the cranberries that I expected to come across. I also was able to pick up a slight presence of bitter hops.

Taste: I somehow felt like I had just ate a can of cranberry sauce after I drank this. That can go either way with me sometimes. The two main things I got in the taste department from this brew was the intense tartness of the cranberries and the bitterness from the hops. I was able to deal with the bitterness. I was hoping to get a nice dosage of that sweet and malty backbone that I enjoy so much in fruit beers. I wanted some of the pie theory (that I invented) while consuming this beer and didn't get it to the fullest extent.

Overall Rating: 

This is typically a seasonal around Thanksgiving each year. I got this bottle in a mixer around Christmas and I'm just now deciding to review this. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer some crust with my pie. By that I'm making a reference to fruit pies. If it's a fruit beer, I want some crust with my fruit, i.e. I want that malty and bready backbone. I wished I had been able to get more of it with this one. Still, an interesting take on a fall beer.

Beer Review: Harpoon Summer Beer

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.5 percent

Appearance: Harpoon Summer Beer reminded me very much of the Original Lager found at the Hofbrauhaus in the South Side Works. The body is very golden. The head is bubbly and frothy. The bubbles are humongous. The liveliness in the head differs from that of the golden body, which doesn't have much carbonation at all.

Smell: This beer smelled somewhat close to a freshly mowed lawn with slight hints of citrus. The aroma wasn't anything to get overjoyed about.

Taste: I got a small hint of that bread/biscuit taste at first, but the weakness of the beer started to take over. Not only did the beer look dead it tasted as such, too. It felt and tasted very watered down.

Overall Rating:  

This concludes the Harpoon Summer Sampler case I purchased a while back. I enjoyed the experience I had trying these brews, but wish I still had some left as another heat wave is upon us!

Beer Review: Harpoon Bohemian Pilsner

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.7 percent

Appearance: Bohemian Pilsner pours a straw-colored gold. It has a thin and slightly fizzy, white head. The body is somewhat hazy, an odd characteristic for a pilsner, and doesn't appear to have much carbonation. You can see things through it, but they're very distorted.

Smell: This beer's initial aroma is a good helping of yeast. Some citrus and grassy notes follow behind that.

Taste: This pilsner is very malty on the front and the grassiness and hops seem to takeover as it rolls towards the back of your mouth. That translates to a rather weak biscuit/bready taste on the back of the tongue that you look for in pilsners. This wasn't a totally bad beer until that point. The flavor came off as rather weak.

Overall Rating: 

Overall Bohemian Pilsner is an attractive brew. The haziness of the body mixes well with its golden color. I was somewhat disappointed in the taste of the beer. I smelled citrus, but couldn't taste it. I also feel it lacked that trademark biscuit-taste.

Beer Review: Harpoon IPA

Serving Type: Bottle


ABV: 5.9 percent

Appearance: Harpoon IPA is a light shade of amber. The beer also features a few golden hues within its body. The body appears to be very carbonated and features a fluffy, white head with some strong retention.

Smell: This beer smells somewhat sweet and floral. It's almost as if some honey is present. The hops and citrus that you expect in your typical IPA aren't very noticeable. The subtle sweetness in this beer's smell is a very interesting take on this style. I haven't come across that often.

Taste: The beer's taste makes up for what the smell lacks in terms of citrus and hops. The bitterness and the citrus hit you on the back of the tongue while the floral and the sweetness dominate the front. It's an interesting mix of flavors although I prefer more power from the citrus in this style of beer.

Overall Rating: 

The floral sweetness in an interesting path to take in crafting an IPA. I tip my cap for that, but I sometimes feel like I'm being shortchanged on the citrus as I am a huge fan of citrus in beer. Still a quality beer to pair with food though, as most IPA's are.

Beer Review: Harpoon UFO White

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.8 percent

Appearance: UFO White is somewhat transparent shade of light orange. It appears to be a bit watered down. There isn't much of a head either as it is very thin on the pour.

Smell: This beer smells very wheat-like with hints of both orange and coriander in between that add a little zest to your nostrils.

Taste: It tastes slightly sweet and orange-like. The taste isn't as over-bearing as one would usually like. I was somewhat disappointed. It was a little bit refreshing though.

Overall Rating: 

Not a bad choice for a drink after a long and hot day. I just was a tad disappointed with this beer's lack of potency. It has a lovely color, but it just doesn't appear too lively.

Beer Review: Harpoon Chocolate Stout

Serving Type: Draft

ABV: 5.9 percent

Appearance: This chocolate stout has a dark brown to a moderate black color. It looks very well carbonated and has a fluffy white head. Expect lots and lots of lacing. The white color surprised me as I expect most stout heads to more of a tan or beige.

Smell: This beer has a very chocolaty scent. The difference from most other chocolate stouts is that this one smelled extremely sweet and sugary. It ended up working out as a nice change of pace.

Taste: Chocolate and more chocolate. I've become used to tasting flavors such as malts and coffee in stouts, but I failed to catch it in this beer. This was pretty much like cold hot chocolate with some booze in it.

Overall Rating:  

I guess it's alright to experiment with your tastes when it comes to certain styles of beers. You wont always enjoy someone else's interpretation of a beer. I guess that's what makes craft beer such a beautiful thing. Harpoon Brewery lost it's Super Bowl bet a few weeks ago, but didn't lose me as a beer drinker. I'd have this beer again. The sweetness was pleasant.