100 Barrel Series #05 - Alt Ale
Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall

 

 

100 Barrel Series, Session 5. 03/31/04. Two years later. Attractive gold foil over the H cap.

Pours a dark mahogany with a settled collar of khaki ring.

Aroma is stiffled initially. Light vanilla and a blend of steeped grain.

First swigs: Soft malt intitially with a backing of smooth caramel. A dry vanilla bean and grainy flavor. Some underlying residual sugar. A fairly solid alt style that is straight to the point. Honeyish with a dry plain pancake and syrup dryness. Flour dry.

Feel is tricky. This is an alt so this should have a dryness imparted and it does.

Last swigs: Managing to fall into the alt family. Sweetness from the hops is a bit too tea sweet, but considering that this is a 2 year old bottle, it's impressive.

Lsat swigs: Alts have been falling in my lap lately. This was a bottle from Andy at UJs Glenside.

Pours crystal clear with auburn red coloring. Moderate small bubbled head on the pour that fades away to nothing.
Aroma of burnt caramel with a buttery note attached to pale bready notes.
Flavor is strictly caramel and toffee with no real other taste profiles noted except for a hint of buttery diacetyl.
Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, probably a little heavier than norm for style, but well-rounded and full with just a hint of perfumy hops on the finish to cut the sweet malt.
Drinkability is good but lack of complexity make for a rather staid beer without much to bring me back for another.

Clear, bright amber color, slim, tight, white rings caps it off.
Aroma: sweetness, from fruit and caramel tones, apples and berries, grapes, a hint of oak and vanilla, just a tease of spices. Nice.
This ale meets the tongue amiably, gently passing the lips and providing a pleasant hoppy breeze. It's a brief blitz, gritty, then dimmed. The palate is lightly touched with flavor, then it fades clean off, leaving only a faint echo. While it lingers, though, it's a fine fruity flavor, with nutty, cola-ish edges.
Medium bodied, and a supreme drinker, as quaffable as they come.
An okay alt, sure, but nothing to shout about.

I love Alt beer. Maybe I just love the cylidrical glasses.

Batch date March 31/2004 Session 5

Sublime.


Pours a deep copper in my Dussel Alt "Stange"

Thick white head with creamy lace as it withdraws.

Smell of malt and floral hops.

Mouthfeel is slightly thin with effervesce.

Very drinkable at 37 IBU this is my kind of brew. Wish I could find more...Now.

This dark amber brwon brew poors with an average amount of white lacy head. It's attractive, but not inspiring. The aroma is a bit nutty with hibts of citrus. It's nothing too shocking, but after a boring evening out with my brother, I was open for anything. The flavors, while clean and crisp seemed overly subdued. There was a strong malt presence, hints of hops, harpoon yest and alcohol. It was very dry, and fairly drinkable, but not impressive enough that I'm dissapointed its a one off.

Great session beer that Im glad i picked up. I had been disapointed with other beers in the series, but this one makes up for it. A nice amber-copper color with a tan head. Malt sweet smell with hints of apple. A sweet caramel taste hits the mouth and is balanced with grassy hops. Finishes clean with a hint of hop bitterness just enough to dry the palate. I like this beers for a night of drinking.

1 Pt. 6 Fl. Ox. bottle. "Harpoon Alt Ale" from their 100 Barrel Series. This is session 05. Batch date 3/31/04, ABV 5.25%, IBU 37

Pours a dull amber with a frothy white substantial head. Dry malty taste with some hops in the back. The dryness is a major factor in this brew. Mouthfeel is fairly smooth, but leaves an almost gritty feeling on the palate and a lingering boring aftertaste. Easily drinkable, but I wouldn't recommend it.

My least favorite of the 100 Barrel Series so far.

Pours a dark red-mahogany, topped with a two finger ivory head, leaves thick puffy bands of lacing.
Robust caramel and malty aroma. A bit spicy and sweet.
Fresh and clean, but a "soapyness" to the taste. Pear, cream, sugar, just a touch of chocolate, perfume. Mainly caramel and fruit.
Medium bodied, and quite creamy, a dry aftertaste.

courtesy of ppoitras

pours a clear brilliant amber copper with a thin whitish head at first straight out of the fridge but the remainder in the 22oz'er poured with a fairly decent head. mild and subtile fruity malty aroma with a caramelly stewed maltiness some raisins but very subtle to me and hardly any hops to pick up on. very balanced clean mild maltiness witha prickly carbonation following and decent hoppy aftertaste. drinkable for a one time thing nothing to get excited about. still a good beer though.

Appearance - Color is a nice amber. Thick head dissipates quickly and doesn't lace well.

Smell - Subtle caramel.

Taste - A nice malt/hop balance. Nothing noticeably different with the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel - Pleasantly lingers.

Drinkability - Very quencing and satisfying beer.

Overall - A good beer that I would buy again.

This Alt looked fantastic! Has a rich, deep, clear chestnut color, with a very fine light tan head topping off at about 1". The head dissipates at a very slow rate, and leaves top-shelf lacing. There are plentiful bubbles arising withing the bier as well. Nose suggests dryness, with some toasty malt and mild, floral hop aromas wafting about. This 'Poon was quite smooth on the tongue, but a touch under medium in the body area. Toasty malt hits the palate first, along with some light caramel. There is a nice level of sweetness here at the outset.... and it tends to linger well. What doesn't show up is much in the way of hoppiness. There's a light touch of a floral character, but you have to search for it. Tasty overall, but needs more hops at the end to balance things out and make this bier more Alt-like.

Prosit!

overall: 3.9
appearance: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | mouthfeel: 3.5 | drinkability: 3.5

725

Very clean dark amber ale with a big tan head that leaves quickly and no lace. Has a very light malty aroma just slightly biscuity. You get a little bit of a malt taste at the begining followed by a muted hop finish. All in all a low key addittion to the "100 barrel" series.

deep brown copper with a hint of ruby in the light. has a light tan head that doesn't stick around long but leaves a good lacing. the smell consists of grainy toasted malts and a little metallic tinge a bit of caramel as well. a little weak.
toasted and caramel malts dominate the taste with a slight tangy dark fruit flavor. a little buttery too. some nuttiness shows up as it warms. some hop bitterness seals the deal. the taste deserves a bit more like a 3.75, but i think a 4 is a little generous so i'll stick with a 3.5. i think the smooth body and pretty strong carbonation work well with the beer. not bad but i was expecting a little more from the 100 barrel series, which have beenvery good.

Shiny bronze, ruby-copper in hue, the color is lovely, I can see a few stray bubbles moseying towards the beige head. On a soft pour the head reached two fingers in height. The head retention was very good; the rocky mass sat still for a while, and then faded to a foamy cap that lasted the entire consumption. There is an impressive amount of subsequent lacing, organized and stringy. The nose is hollow; the empty sensation is disappointing. Once I really worked at the nose I detected trace hints of burnt caramel, earthy sweetness, and a tickle of flowery hops largely at the back. I actually let this beer warm up more than I normally do, not intentional, yet the bouquet is very bland. The aroma is so weak I wouldn’t have been able to determine a style in a blind taste testing. Thus there isn’t an invitation to drink. The palate is tolerable. Alts are hard to “wow” me but this is just plain. The maltiness is not ample enough and it is frankly not tasty enough for me to care. Yes, there are some caramel flavors, burnt. Sweetness? Minimal. Actually it is surprisingly dry and astringent. Buttery at times, especially once it warmed. The aftertaste is funky, not off or anything, just unpleasant. It is muddled earthiness, popcorn, and flat malty qualities. Not clean at all. Okay, the more I sip it the less it resembles an Alt. I won’t hold that against it. My impressions are totally based on what I am drinking. Thus this beer is just uninteresting and at times, lousy. Medium in body, it feels thinner than it should, the carbonation is very low and this can’t help. The mouthfeel is tolerable. Forgettable. I don’t find much enjoyment in drinking this beer. I might not finish the bomber. Regardless of how I feel about the beer I need to say “thank you” to drweizen for including this in BIF 5! Honestly this is the runt of the litter but everything else you sent was freaking fantastic!

I'm starting to like Alt's the more I try them now. I think this and smoked beers would be ideal for the fall time. But it's the dead of summer and it's 70 degrees outside so it's time to break this one open. Poured out a rusty copper. Almost looks like blood red held up to a light. Pretty nice. Smell consists of malts mostly with some light hops and caramel in the backround. But everything seemed to be on the light side. Taste was a little better. This has a big malt profile. Some caramel mixes in the middle and finishes a tad buttery and nutty. Aftertaste is quite dry and quite nutty as well. But yet it's rich and creamy. All and all, this isn't bad. It is worth a shot to try.

22oz bottle from Yankee Spirits, Sturbridge, MA.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1" tan head over a clear copper brew, and laced well. Aroma is sweetly of caramel malts. Taste is well-balanced, with a slight sweetness of malt that is countered by hops. Mouthfeel is quite thin, but drinkability stays up because there was nothing wrong with the brew, just more a case of I feel it wasn't all it could be. Similar to the draft product, which I guess is good thing for the brewery, consistency of output, regardless of presentation.

This was a previously offered regular run beer, NOT the 100 Barrel Series brew.

It was a deep red ale with a good head that took some time to dissolve to lace.

The aroma was very hoppy, with traces of pine and citrus mingled in delicately.

The taste was of very sharp hops, but not overly bitter. The finish was smooth. It did feel a tad thin, though.

This was a highly pleasant beer, one I enjoyed quite a bit.

Bomber bottle, with gold foil. Poured a nice clear, ruby brown. Malty nose. Off white head, with good retention. Malt, malt, malt is the deal here. Very nice, smooth malty flavors. Notes of almonds, caramel, bready. Clean tasting, very enjoyable Alt.