Browse Tag

harpoon

Gilligan’s grain

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Ginger Wheat (Vermont) – An only-just-decent wheat beer whose ginger is almost entirely delivered on the first tingly sip, after which the palate becomes entirely immune and this beer lacks any sort of point whatsoever. (6/12)

100 whales

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Black IPA (Vermont) – What it says is what you get: IPA bitterness, amped up just a bit by the blackness but by no means overwhelming, with a char and liquid smoke envelopment. Impressive. I wouldn’t want to drink a lot of this, but some is very good. (2/12)

At the hop

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Czech Hop Harvest Ale “Dočesná” (Vermont) – Aggressive in multiple ways: richly-hopped (but not one of those hop-overwhelmed extremities, by any means), chipped metal and wood aromas, and physically impossible to ignore. It is, perhaps, a bit more than I was expecting, but I’ll chalk that up to my expectations rather than an inherent flaw in the ale. All that said, it remains aggressive. (10/11)

Big & beige

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” “Rich & Dan’s” Rye IPA (Vermont) – Yes, OK, there’s the grainy undertone of rye that I like so much in spirits. But here, it’s just not enough of a major player in the final product, which is heavy, a little bitter, and quite a bit blockheaded. I’ve been a big fan of many releases in this series, but I fear the last few have lost their way. (7/11)

Don’t hop the whale

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Single Hop ESB (Massachusetts) – Were I more fascinated by hops, I’d no doubt be more intrigued by this beer. I’m not, and so…I’m not. (5/10)

I’d like to bi a valve, please

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Island Creek Oyster Stout (Massachusetts) – Yes, stout. Yes, the unmistakable saline tang of oysters. I like stout. I like Island Creek oysters. I don’t like stout with oysters. So the merits of this wine are lost on me. (3/10)

Drink a ginger day

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Ginger Wheat (Massachusetts) – Alcoholic ginger beer. Gee, if only someone had thought of that before. My sarcasm hides the fact that ginger beer is really all this is, ’cuz the wheat doesn’t enter into it. (12/09)

Whalebock

Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Helles Blond Bock (Massachusetts) – Strong and a little boozy, and somewhat akin to drinking freshly-pounded copper. Oh, these analogies and metaphors do get away from one. Good, but only just, and I’d rather drink other things. (9/09)

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