Did Harp Lager change?

I agree. That isn't doing them any favors. At first glance it looks like Kokanee or Labatt now.
It's way too easy to walk past and never even notice it now. The green packaging wasn't great, but it's almost incognito now. I like the older Guinness-like brand with a black and parchment label.

 

Harp lager pretty much always sucked. If it is worse now than in the eighties (Yuughh)

 

What does that mean? And why would an obscure post on Guiness lager "blow up" Oh I get it your a comedian. I get it ha ha-

 

Since St Patrick's Day is coming up I decided to start shopping for some Irish beers, and long and behold Harp has another new label. I will say anything is better than that terrible Miller Lite knockoff looking one they had previous to this.

New label

Miller Lite looking one

Irish-y looking one

 

Haven't had a Harp in 15+ yrs but the top one looks like they are trying to distance themselves from their past--agree looks very Lite like.

 

That's a lot of packaging design for a mediocre beer. Years ago I thought it was OK, it was at least different because of the yeasty sulfur, but now it's just crap.

 

Also, a new recipe as discussed a few months ago at
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/did-harp-lager-change.602001/

Looks like they went back to the original label of the 1960s (US version, 1965 below - which was gold foil, IIRC) and said, "Uh, let's do a mash-up of that and the Heineken oval, using blue and white instead of Heineken green."

 

Yeah, I was thinking it was deliberately retro rather than a distancing from the past.
(surfcaster - the OP was saying that the middle pic is the Lite-ish one)

 

"Gentleman, Harp Irish Premium Lager sales revenue has fallen a twelfth of a unit point year over year. We need to re-index the core brand quality initiative with bold and decisive enterprise capabilities. Verdant design tactics have cycled! Fast track implementation of design protocol enhancements ASAP!

The boys at Heineken must be trembling right about now.

 

I always liked the green label, the blue label is super bland and that white one is even more boring.

 

I recently picked up a relatively fresh 12-pack (bottles) on sale for St. Patty's. I forgot the recipe was reformulated, but I didn't have any memory of the original recipe either. To my tastes it's very much in line with an typical AAL with maybe a touch more bitterness. I think it's OK for what it is and I'll have no problem finishing the 12-pack, but I probably will never buy Harp again. For the premium price, it's not much different than many cheaper Euro lagers or AALs. Personally, think the flavors of Harp and Hamm's are really close (I like Hamm's for what it is, so no slight is intended there), but if I consider price, I would buy Hamm's every time, no contest.

YRMV, of course.

Yeah... retro labels should look timeless (e.g. Miller Lite). Anything falling short of "timeless" just looks "dated."

 

Damn, hate when that happens. Should have waited to post until after the mods combined these two HARP threads but anyway...

Only a few years after Guinness started exporting Harp to the US, in 1964 they claimed it was already the fourth best selling imported beer in America - seems like I asked this in another thread, but after Heineken and Lowenbrau, wonder who #3 was? Likely wasn't Guinness, which IIRC, was mostly FES at the time with a very tiny market for Guinness Draught in NYC and a few other urban areas.

After Germany #1 and Holland #2, the European countries that exported the most beer to the US at the time were Denmark (#4 - both Tuborg and Carlsberg) and - go figue - #3 Norway (mostly Ringnes, I'd guess).

But here's the even more interesting aspect of that, one which illustrates just how small the US imported beer market was in the 1960s, which was well under 1% of the market (!) - Harp was only sold in NY, NJ, MA and CT at the time, about to expand to PA, the Midwest and CA.

Worked for Blitz-Weinhard's (later Pabst's) Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve back in the 1970s. Probably the beer that used the largest percentage of the Cascade hop crop at the time

 

Heineken Light uses cascade hops, and it doesn't get much more pale than than that. Honestly, I think Heineken Light is pretty good and kind of unique. It's worth trying once if you don't a mind light beer [I understand many here reject all light beers on principle, which is fine].

 

At this point, I'd only drink the 'new' Harp as part of a blended Black'n'Tan. By itself, I tried it, and : Ugh.

 

Notice this on the shelf the other day (next to the new Heineken 0.0%):

When Cascades were first released in the US in the 1970s (and before "craft beer") they were seen as a more economical alternative to the European hops for the US macro brewers - Coors was the first to commit to buying large quantity of Cascades.

 

And even then, I'd use Bass, which also is a shell of its former self. But I guess that fodder for another thread.

 

Sure, by my standards now that's absolutely true. But 25 years ago when most of my drinking was done in divey college bars the mediocre brews of Yuengling, Bass, and Harp were an absolute godsend and they tasted incredible at the time.

 

Yeah, Guinness in the US has always promoted the Harp/Guinness Stout combo as a "Half & Half", using the controversial "Black & Tan" term in the US for Bass Ale and Guinness - but that was back when Guinness was the importer for Bass in the US.

After they lost that license (around the time InBev acquired Bass), Diageo in the US eventually promoted Smithwick's and Guinness as their official "Black & Tan".

But, before Harp existed, in the US Guinness called mixing any lager beer or an ale with their stout a "Half 'n' Half".


Of course, in America, we don't follow them foreigners' naming conventions:
Half and Half - Black & Tan

 

At the risk of losing all my craft beer cred in this thread, I kinda like Heineken 0.0% and have bought two sixers of it so far. Sometimes I want a beer, but not the alcohol and it still tastes beer-like which I can't say for some other NA beers I've had like....

Re: Clausthaler Dry-Hopped... I tried that once on a whim and it was like drinking stale herbal bread. Just awful, IMO... Never again.

 

Thx—

My brain isn’t working well but I was talking about that one you’re pointing out. I meant top of the two 6 packs.

Harp lager was a splurge by the pitcher in the early 80s. Not sure how close it is to what it was then but in NC in 83, that was one of the few non BMCs on tap. Your other choices were Guinness, Bass and if really lucky, Anchor Steam.