IPA
Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall

 

 

 

Pours a slightly cloudy deep golden orange, 1.5" soapy head with good retention and lacing. Nose is malt and roasted barley with a nice background note of pine and earthy spice. Taste is also malt forward, though there's enough hop presence to keep things balance. Would like a bit more bright, spicy hop, but this still satisfies. Mouthfeel is moderate with light carbonation.

Good traditional ipa. Certainly more balanced than many out there, today

 

 

12 oz bottle pulled out of a cooler full of ice water.
Nice genie of steam rises from the bottle when popped open.
Smells original classic IPA.
Tastes like an un- fussied with IPA. It’s hoppy, crisp, malt balanced.
Feels carbed and smooth, tingly.
Overall, “just an IPA” in the fondest of terms.

I haven’t had this IPA for a while. Good to revisit in light of all the unbalanced weird flavored IPAs I’ve been tasting in the past few years. Mildly hoppy, good malt backbone, standard fare. Good go to IPA.

Real bad.

 

 

 

A solid starter IPA of the traditional back in the day variety, I drank a ton of it for a while - similar to, but inferior to in every aspect the great SNPA.

pours a slightly hazed gold body with a billowing white frothy foam head that has moderate retention and leaves a ton of thin sticky sudsy lacing behind as it settles to a patchy froth cap with defined halo

aroma is sweet and grainy, malt forward with floral and slightly piney hops on the wings

taste is sweet and juicy, with a floral flair up front that fades to an earthy light bitterness tinged with pine with the finish

mouthfeel in fairly thin bodied with high carbonation, running slightly watery and grainy with a pillowed, juicy edge before finishing mildly dry and leaving a slightly sweet herbal aftertaste tinged with earthy bitterness

overall:
solid session IPA that runs mostly sweet and juicy but manages a solid balance thanks to a cascade hop bittersweetness.
wouldn't consider it one of the greats, but it's in the top 15 for me as far as highbrow craft IPA flagships.

Not one of the better ones I have had from Harpoon, but still solid enough to enjoy. Comparatively speaking, it's not as sweet smelling or juicy as others, but the mouthfeel was full-bodied which made up for a less than favorable taste. Again, when you take it all in, it's solid. Just not necessarily memorable.

Look...darker brown copper with a white head and ample carbonation . The way IPAs used to look
Smell...faint smell of hops as the usual like many of the old school favorites.
Taste...Exquisite apricot, malt bitter with a very full body for the ABV. Back to the taste, apricot leaving to a finish dryness
Feel...A n ample carbonation that makes the consistency a little sticky and resinous. A great quality to this beer.
Overall...My belief is slanted such as this beer was a staple for a long time. This was my requested wedding beer that had to be there!! Anyways this beer was a very good one and still everyone should try. This beer was definitely a trail blazer out east.

 

 

Scrappy notes from 2010.
6 pack of 12 ounce bottles purchased chilled.
This is probably the lightest tasting and lightest drinking IPA that I've had to date. It has a beautiful copper color with a nice white head. The nose is pretty full with hops that are flowery and some malt. The taste is mainly hoppy and is a bit thin or watery but tasty nonetheless. It has a nice light bitterness to it and drinks easy and fast. Not too shabby.

The claim is "New England's First IPA" and that may be. Most beer historians credit Ballantine as being the first to brew one in the U.S., but that was in New York. Enough history, let's empty a twelve ounce can into a clear Imperial pint glass and review it. First, it's a lovely bright copper-amber with a sparse, but enduring white head. There's plenty of malt to be had by the nose. The taste is sharply hoppy, with the malt failing to keep up. The hops are boldly bitter, earthy, yet finishing dryly. This is a good bitterly hopped AIPA, lacking only a little malty counterbalance. It may not offer enough complexity for some, but this is a spot on traditional IPA.

 

 

 

 

 

From a 19.2oz can, dated 04/05/21. Served in a willi becher.

Pours a crystal clear copper-gold with two fingers of dense, foam insulation-like head. Retention is excellent, leaving a thick, creamy cap and a tattered curtain of lacing. Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for it to look this good.

Nose is sharp, grainy and vaguely cider-like. Crackers and apple skins.

Taste is dry like soda crackers, crisp and biting. Apple skin, orange oil, turpentine.

Feel is crisp and clean, drying, medium bodied with brisk carbonation.

There was a time I drank quite a lot of this and I guess I wasn’t as stupid as I remember myself being because this is mighty tasty. The fact that it’s only a month old may have something to do with it. At any rate, the can label promises ‘hoppy, balanced, crisp’ and fucked if it isn’t all of those things.

(Replaces a 3.48 rating-without-review dated 05/17/15).

 

Overall this beer is just a snooze fest. Its a cheap beer and i get that, but this is not a good beer. There is nothing overly offensive about this beer but it just taste like water. Not what i expected for and i feel at this price, there are better options that will make you much more happy.

 

 

 

 

Nicedarker amber color easy drinking gives a good buzz not a bad beer low hop taste

 

 

 

Sometimes you just need a break from the hazy IPAs that occupy every store and every corner of the refrigerator. And sometimes you don’t even want an IPA. This Pale Ale takes me back to some of my first craft beers, before IBUs started hitting sky high. And because of that it is like so many other pale ales, clear and clean, with a nice squeeze of hops and a refreshing palate that would be very difficult to replicate in a higher gravity style.