Harpoon Rich & Dan's Rye IPA

Hope you can still find this. I got a sample bottle a few weeks ago (okay, maybe six weeks ago; I been busy) and just didn't get to it till now. Sorry I waited; glad I found the time. This is bitter, aromatic, zippy, but I still very much wanted to drink the whole bottle -- but I shared it with Cathy.

Rich and Dan, of course, are Harpoon founders (technically Mass Bay Brewing founders, I believe) Rich Doyle and Dan Kenary, two very bright fellows who I've been lucky enough to know and to sink a few Harpoons with. This is, they say, the kind of beer they always wanted to make. Why didn't they? Heh. You try selling a rye IPA back in 1988! Now they had their chance, and they took it. Congratulations to them, and to everyone at Harpoon, on this excellent beer. I'll have my eye out for stray bottles here and there, and will take them in and give them a good home.

Rare 'Poonage at Misconduct Tavern next week

I think I told you my son's now attending Boston University which, among other changes in my life, has occasioned a convenient reason to renew my pleasant relations with Boston bars, brewpubs and Boston-based breweries...like Harpoon. I've been a Harpoon fan for years, always happy to run into it, and the folks from the brewery are great, including the president, Rich Doyle, who has served both Harpoon and the larger craft-brewing community for years with insightful leadership.

That's why I'll be at Misconduct Tavern next Tuesday (6-8 PM) to join Rich Doyle for a tasting of some rare Harpoon beers that often don't get outside of Boston Metro. It's an open event, with flights of smaller glasses, so you can try more than a couple without staggering home.

The lineup, on draft first:
Harpoon Leviathan Triticus
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Glacier Wet Hop
Harpoon Octoberfest
Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale

And in Bottles:
Harpoon IPA
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Island Creek Oyster Stout
 
I'm really looking forward to the oyster stout, it sounds like a very special beer. So maybe I'll see you there? Come on down, taste beers from one of the oldest, largest craft brewers on the East Coast.

20 years of Harpoon Octoberfest celebration

Ah.... 'PoonFest.

Back in the early days of our marriage, Cathy and I lived in Waterbury, Connecticut. We were young(er) and in love, and we took pleasure in simple things. We had to, they were all we could afford. At the time, one of the cheap simple things was gasoline, and we traveled around New England as much as we could. Which is how we wound up in Boston for what was, apparently, the first Harpoon Octoberfest. Who knew?

We had a great, great time, drinking, whooping it up, and grinning like idiots at having found a beer event that was bigger than three brewers standing at tables talking to 50 people. Needless to say, Harpoon Octoberfest has grown to be quite a bit more than that...they expect 14,000 people this year. Well, you know, Harpoon just keeps growing!

Here's what they've got:

Two massive tents will be erected at Harpoon, transforming the brewery’s parking lot into a Bavarian-style beer garden. A wide selection of Harpoon beers will be poured on draft featuring the brewery’s Marzen-style fall seasonal offering, Harpoon Octoberfest Beer. Live oompah bands will entertain with traditional waltzes and lead the crowd in the beloved chicken dance. Sauerkraut-stuffed bratwurst and knockwurst will be served alongside mustard-covered pretzels.

20 years of Harpoon Octoberfest this weekend, October 2 and 3. Get to the website for details.