Harpoon Celtic Ale

Brewed by Harpoon Brewery
Style: Irish Ale
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Pours red with a white head. Smells of licorice, roses, cane sugar and musk. Tastes sweet with some cherry aftertaste as well as some tanginess. Easy finish and very drinkable as a session beer.

Unfortunately Harpoon seems like one of those brewers that just doesn’t live up to their potential. The beers are consistent and well-made but the flavor just is not there on a lot of them. Seems to me they could easily be a GLBC or Bell’s caliber brewer if they would just decide they wanted all their beers to be less boring. Anyway this Killian’s-ish beer is clear amber with a thin ivory-colored head and minimal lacing. Caramel and malt aroma. Medium-bodied and dry with malt, caramel and light nut flavor. The finish is short and hoppy. Smooth and easy to drink, but again there should be more to this.

Anothe Beer of the Month Club review here as well... Clear reddish amber with a small off-white head, little retention and some lacing. Nothing special in the aroma save for some malt and a mild nutty character. In a word, the flavor(s) is (are) boring. No real balance with not enough hop presence to hold up the malt. A bit of a metalic aftertaste in the otherwise dry finish. The best thing about this beer is that it ocassionally reminded me of an English Ale along the lines of a London Pride (though without the subtleties). Overall, not a good beer and once the remaining 2 from the BotM box are gone, I won’t be looking to replace them.

Funny, the previous reviewer also got this as a beer of the month pick. I’ve only had Harpoon’s IPA before and was lukewarm to it. I’d say this is a pretty decent session beer, except it doesn’t have enough going on to keep my interest for a session. Malty-sweet-some interesting yeast character, but overall just kind of muddy. Not bad, but not thrilling.

Harpoon just recently started showing up in Tampa, but I got this as a beer of the month. Nice smell light and malty. Warm amber color with a decent thoughshort lived head. Tasty, but nothing over the top. Malt presence is there throughout but not overly sweet.

I believe that, had this been listed as an Irish ale (Harpoon’s claimed style), other raters would have been more forgiving of its body. It pours a reddish-copper color with a fizzy off-white head. The aroma is mild, toffee-like, with some juicy fruitiness and a hint of herbal hopping. Fairly light-bodied, it delivers a mild sweet malt flavor with an earthy bitterness in the finish. Okay.

12 oz. Bottle. Clear red color with good head and lacing. Malt and light floral noted in the nose. Nice maltiness but light in body. Clean finish. Not great, but not a bad.

Nice clear red with a small off-white head. A little caramel in the nose. Flavor has notes of toasted malt, caramel, some light floral hops and a hint of spiciness. Not that sweet, slightly bitter. Not much taste. Medium-thin body with lively carbonation. Very average and forgettable.