Harpoon IPA

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

This was on tap at the Flying Dog tap room as part of a bet on the World Series, ugh. Anyway, the beer was a nice golden color with a standard head atop. The smell was subdued with a slight floral hop aroma minutely registering. The taste was more of the smell but just too subdued. I like balanced IPA’s but this was just too easygoing and subtle. It was almost as if this was a JV pale ale that wanted to be varsity so bad...Nice to have tried it but this will not sell well as an IPA around here, we know better. The Red Sox may have won the World Series but our IPA’s beat the shit out of yours on a regular basis you bitches. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 12-06-2007 02:37:34

Bottle. Very nice floral and earthy hop aroma. Nice white head that quickly disappears, unimpressive color. Lacks the strong bitterness expected out of an ipa.

Always A Favorite.Nice hop taste but never overbearing.Slight maltieness but not to the point of a roasted flavor.

Pours a clear orange with thick white head, lots of lacing. Aroma decent of hops, but not highly so, mostly citrus, slight floral, decent malt backbone, and not a whole lot else. Flavor matches well and has a nice flavor, mostly due to a nice hop profile, but doesn’t have a lot else going on. Mouthfeel is thin, leaves a nice bitterness, and a slick mouthfeel. Wish this had more going for it, but it appears to be nothing more than a nice refreshing bitter beer with not a lot else. Would I buy it again? Not likely with many better IPAs similarly priced.

Clear amber orange with a soft copper-tinged head which fades into a thin ringlet. A couple swirls produce a decent display of lace which sticks well to the sides of my glass. Clean glasses are a MUST and ALWAYS hand wash them. (This has been a public service announcement from you local Beer Ambassador. We now return you to your normal programming.) As I partake of her nose, I have left my chair and am strolling down rolling hills resplendent with green grass and wild vegetables. Her nose is light but green, vegetal, herbal, and somewhere someone’s key lime orchard is abloom. Broccoli, celery, cucumber, basil, and thyme mingle amidst the fields of green grass. I’m a kid at heart so I wasted no time romping and rolling through the fields, and in return I am met with a bright palate bursting with fresh hop cones just picked from the vine while below my toes green grass bristles. A dry, brisk palate, she snaps all her flavors across my palate in quick procession: lemon, key lime, herbs, white pepper, green wood, green grass, celery, and hop cones, some whole and some crushed, oozing their sticky oils. Now, anyone who has quaffed the Harpoon IPA knows that she is not a big beer by any standards, but what she lacks in robustness she makes up for with her straightforward palate. No mysteries. No surprises. Just good clean fresh IPA quaffing which is certified family safe.

Make sure to always check the freshness dates on bottles that have them. For some breweries like Harpoon, they really do matter. It’s not crazy at all for a beer to taste fresh amongst everything else, and the Harpoon IPA was solid living proof.

From a 12 oz bottle. Poured gold with a medium white head. Smell was strongly of earth and a little bit of hops. For an IPA, there wasn’t much hop character to it, but it was still pretty solid. I’d probably buy it again if I had the chance.

I had this decent craft beer on my trip to OBX. It had a modest grainy and earthy hop aroma with some yeast and a bit of caramel malt and citrus. A cloudy gold-yellow color with a medium off-white foamy head. A predominantly bitter, hoppy grain and citrus taste, with a bit of sweetness. The beer had good carbonation and fizz with a somewhat dry finish and good mouthfeel.

I GRABBED THIS BEER SIMPLY BECAUSE I LOVE IPA’S. PURDED IT IN A PINT GLASS AND IT LOOKS REFRESHING WITH PALE GOLDEN COLOR AND THIN HEAD. TASTE QUITE REFRESHING TOO, HOWEVER IT IS VERY SUBTLE FOR AN IPA. NOT MUCH GOING ON WITH THE FLAVOR. GOOD BEER BUT IF YOUR GOING FOR A 10 SIX PACK ITS NOT THE BEST CHOICE.