Harpoon IPA

Brewed by Harpoon Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Boston, Massachusetts USA

On tap and in bottle at various locations in and around Boston. By US IPA standards this is a fairly restrained little number. Golden colour. Modest hop character with some grassy and citrus notes. Easygoing and easy drinking. Not a beer to provoke extreme reactions but a very useful staple in the Boston area where it is often available in bars that are otherwise devoid of craft beer. So I ended up drinking, and enjoying, quite a lot of it.

On tap 8.22.09 @ Hop Cat. Pours a rich apple-juice color with a small head. Aroma is appley and mildly fruity. Flavor follows, subdued hops with a juice mild malt backing. Body is somewhat syrupy. Worked decently to wash down some hotwings.

Bottle: Poured an orange color with a thin white head. The aroma was malts and hops. The flavor was sweet malts, fruit and hops. Overall, not a bad IPA.

Draft. Pours clear orange with a thin, off-white head. Aroma of hops, wheat, barley, and hints of apple. Medium body with a clean finish. Decent IPA.

12oz bottle. Pours golden like a pale lager, with a small white head. Aroma is of hops, pine, floral notes, and malt. Taste is of soapy hops, pine, floral notes, and alcohol. Has a base of biscuity malt that fails to even this beer out. Mouthfeel is light and carbonated. What a complete mess.

Light floral bouquet, clear golden body, thin white head, nice dry hops all over the tongue, crisp finish

Pretty good. Surprisingly thick mouthfeel. Nice hoppy aroma. Good flavor. Dry finish.

Slight hop aroma with a bit of cereal malt. A bit of skunk. Watery malt flavor with almost no hops to hit. Drinkable but I don’t see how you could call this an IPA.