Task 5 - Harpoon Brewery

(05) Visit a winery or brewery & take the tour

Activity: Harpoon Brewery
Location: 306 Northern Ave, Boston, MA 02210
Cost: $5.00 per person
When: May 11, 2013
Rating: 5-Stars

When you think Brewery in Boston immediately Sam Adam’s comes to mind but it isn’t the only brewery in town. Harpoon Brewery founded by two Harvard Alum’s whose passion for brewing got them started in 1986. While smaller in size they compete against the bigger breweries in both quality and appeal. Interestingly they have the distinction of being the first company to obtain a permit to manufacture and sell alcohol in Massachusetts. This distinction came from a reset in the licensing after the days of prohibition and the rebirth of the microbrewery system.

While best known for the Harpoon IPA they offer many other brews like my favorite UFO Hefeweizen. I am a huge fan of unfiltered beers and theirs is by far the best. Their brewery is located in Boston’s waterfront seaport district. It is best to arrive early as tickets are sold on a first come/first served basis. We arrived at 10:00 and were the 3rd group in line for the 11:00 opening. By 10:30 the line was a good 40-50 people deep. The cost is a minimal $5 per person.

Rather than get tickets and come back again later we opted to take the first tour and at about 11:20 our tour guide Mark was walking us through the packaging and distribution warehouse where we learned that they have at any given moment about 50,000 cases of beer ready to go. We also learned that their can’s are sprayed with a special coating/polymer to ensure the particular beer’s flavor is protected against any packaging materials/aluminum taste. We also learned that it takes them about 4 minutes to fill a keg. As we continued on we entered the actual brewery where they explained the detailed process of using hops, orange peel, coriander, their special yeast and other ingredients in the many varieties they offer. Mark did an excellent job explaining the process while his assistant served us a glass of green beer. Green beer is unfiltered and not yet finished IPA direct from their tanks. Once we finished the beer making lesson we moved to a temporary tasting hall. They are currently renovating their existing tasting room.

While in the temporary tasting hall Mark explained the differences and provided his own personal opinions of the many offerings they had on Tap. While he explained each one we had the opportunity to sample as many of the offerings as we liked as many times as we wanted. I will admit that I had many 2oz samples and by the time our tour ended I was feeling pretty good. Thankfully we had a designated driver already picked out. 

One of the recommendations from Mark was to try the beer pretzels in the Beer Hall. They are made with remnants of the beer making process and are baked on site. We all took up the challenge and enjoyed another beer before picking up a few souvenirs in the gift shop.

While I didn’t learn as much detail about the beer making process as I had during other tours I enjoyed the more personal touch and the greater opportunity to sample not just production beer but a variety of test brews such as the Blueberry IPA and the Mid Summer Brew. I would highly recommend this tour to any beer lovers for a few hours of fun and good company.