Harpoon Octoberfest

It was time for my first fall brew of the year. I had a hard time deicing which fall beer to choose, I'm not a big fan of octoberfests or pumpkin ales! I went with Harpoon because I had never tried theirs and I felt like staying away from the mainstream Samuel Adams Octoberfest or Shipyard Pumkinhead. (I'll probably try those later). So here's the Harpoon Octoberfest:

The head of this beer foams up a lot, so be ready to get your holding hand wet or sipping to keep up with it when poured. It soon settles down to a thin head and releases scents of malt and the familiar hops in their IPA. These same characters were in the palate but wheat was added. Then the beer finishes the same with little change of character, just the wheat and hops lingering on your tongue. This is a bitter beer but not like your typical IPA, the malt is bitter as well somehow.

I was a tad disappointed with this brew, but perhaps that's due to the high standards I've given Harpoon due to their IPA and Dark Munich. This beer is a B (good) by my standards. If you like other octoberfests give this one a try though.

Harpoon IPA

I've always told people who think of Samuel Adams as the best beer ever made "I'm a Harpoon guy." When it comes to Boston beer I am, but honestly I'm a Maine micro brewer guy that likes names like Shipyard, Geary's and especially Allagash. Despite my biased opinion due to my home-state pride I've yet to find a Maine IPA that beats Harpoon's.

When I saw a 12 pack of this on sale for the same price of the Dogfish Head 6 pack I was going to buy, I knew what my purchase would be. Now I must warn those of you who don't know if they like hoppy or malty beers, this is one of the extremes of Indian Pale Ale. Wikipedia says "India Pale Ale, (abbreviated IPA), is an ale that is light amber to copper in colour, medium to medium-high alcohol by volume, with hoppy, bitter and sometimes malty flavour." Harpoon's IPA is exactly that with a golden hue, high abv (5.9% = good for you frat party people), with a hoppy-malty and bitter flavor. I must add that when poured it has a great fuzzy and citrusy head that leaves lacing around the glass after a minute.

Mabey it's an acquired taste that I got from my father, but my fiance didn't finish her beer last night. It was too bitter she said. So beacause this blog's pourpuse is to give readers a heads up on products before they buy them; I reccomend this beer to those that preferr others like Guinness Extra Stout and other IPAs but not to those that drink Heineken or other lagers or pale summer ales.

My rating is B (good)