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Richard Nye
Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 124
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 01:11 am: | 
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It’s Boston’s largest brewery. At 80K bbls a year they call themselves a “craft brewery”. They had 6 beers on tap, and I’d have to say I liked the alt the best. Too bad it was their 100bbl offering (a one-of-a-kind 100bbl batch formulated by one of their brewers). They also had a koelsch, hefeweizen, American ale, IPA, and Munich lager. I like most of my brews better than anything Harpoon offered.
A few interesting facts though:
They use 4 brewing vessels, a mash mixer/tun, lauter tun, boiling kettle and whirlpool. The boiling kettle was pressurized (to get a better hot break??). I can’t remember what their brew length is (160bbl maybe).
They fermented for about 7 days then dropped the temperature and conditioned (in the fermenter) for another 7 days, filtered and packaged. They used the same (proprietary) yeast for all beers (ales AND lagers) except their hefeweizen.
The guide (a marketing guy) said the raw materials cost $13/case. When I told him that can’t be right he said maybe it included the overhead but not the bottles or labor. Whatever.
Someday I may open up a small brewery as a retirement project to serve the local restaurants and bars. It will be in Laguna Beach CA and I’ll call it Blue Water Brewery. So I got some good ideas during my visit to Harpoon. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 99
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 11:47 am: |
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For what it's worth, the term "craft brewery" covers everything from tiny 1 barrel (31 gallon) systems to giants (at least in small brewery terms) as large as Sierra Nevada with a capacity of more than 750,000 barrels a year. In fact, you can say that everything except for the big three US brewers and a few regional breweries (for example, Yuengling) are craft breweries. |
Jeffery Swearengin
Member
Username: Beertracker
Post Number: 217
Registered: 03-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 03:32 pm: |
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How was the clam chowder? 
CHEERS! Beertracker
"From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world." ~ Saint Arnold of Metz (580-640) - Patron Saint of Brewers
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Chris Smedley
Member
Username: Lookitschris
Post Number: 228
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 08:17 pm: |
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Richard: Was it you who I talked into trying the Hibernian? If so, how'd you like it? |
Richard Nye
Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 126
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 09:51 pm: |
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Beertracker - no chowda, but I did get a lobster roll on my way back to the T.
Chris - yes, that was me. They didn't have Hiberian on tap. What style was it?
(Message edited by yeasty_boy on June 29, 2004) |
Chris Smedley
Member
Username: Lookitschris
Post Number: 229
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 - 02:18 am: |
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Harpoon calls it an "Irish Red," but I call it an amber CACA. Honestly, I've always thought of Harpoon as a bunch of hacks until I tried Hibernian; very understated and restrained, but a very beautiful beer.
Interesting to hear that they use the same yeast for "ales" and "lagers." I heard that they grow "apples" and "oranges" on the same tree in Boston, too. |
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Brews and Views Archive 2004 
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