Harpoon Celtic Ale

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

I just happened to catch this in some random Bennigan’s in MA and was pleasently surprised, considering what I had expected from one of the worst chains in the world. And I was also surprised to find that tis was listed as a simple Amber Ale; it tasted and felt much more complicated and satisfying- I almost would have guessed hyper-Veinna or something. Pretty darn tasty, but maybe I was just happy to have something decent.

Pours amber, with aroma of malt, toffee, brown sugar. Tastes malty, with brown sugar, toffee, some nuts.

Clear amber color with a thin cream head. Aroma is woody and earthy. Sweet malty, mossy flavor. Clean finish. Nice and complex. I don’t know why this is doing so poorly in ratings.

Rich caramel malt nose - cherries, alcohol, reminds me a bit of a bock. Sweet malt, caramel, brown sugar flavor. Fruty finish. Could use more body.

quickly diminishing head atop the dark copper not good anberale. The body was lacking.

On tap @ the Brew Kettle 3/22/05: Light coppery amber w/ a medium lasting very light beige head. Caramel and yeasty, seems like English ale yeast aroma. Medium green apple & lightly toasty malt. Some floral hop. Flavor is well balanced, and definitely yeasty in the finish & aftertaste; malty up front w/ a caramel green apple flavor in the middle. It seems a bit thin up front in the flavor to me as most of the flavor is in the mid palate throught the aftertaste. Hints of diacetyl in the finish as well. Lighter medium body, smooth m/f, medium carbonation. Not a bad beer, but non distinct and middle of the road IMHO.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with slob, thanks Bert!) With a somewhat exotic name, I was expecting this amber to be more special than it is. Instead, what we have is an Irish style amber with a cheap-tasting, sweet, caramely maltiness and some very modest roastiness, with only a touch of hops in the finish. But despite the sweet flavor, the beer is fairly dry on the palate. Body is medium, but barely. Sweet and lightly caramely aroma matches up with the flavor, and was my first clue that this beer wasn’t going to amount to much. The color is your basic amber, perhaps a shade darker. The off-white head doesn’t pour to more than half an inch in height, and fades to a rim with some patchy film inside. Just a few dots of lace are left on the glass, and when I say dots, that’s precisely what I mean. Barely average across the board, bordering on micro-swill, but that’s what I’ve come to expect from Harpoon.

Pours a clear red with low carbonation and a white head. Smells like sweet caramel malts. Flavor is very nutty and sweet up front with a dry "sucking on a walnut shell" zing lingering in the backend.