Hello Beer Friends Nation! Good Beer Month continues into August with Harpoon Brewery at the Blind Tiger NYC. Harpoon Brewery is from Boston and a favorite of the two Red Sox fans in the Beer Friends. Tonight should be fun with a few common pours, a few 100 Barrel series pours and a few from the Leviathan series! Beer!
Brad 1st – Harpoon Leviathan Baltic Porter 2008: Honestly hard to get past the alcoholic taste on this one. At 12 percent I knew it was high but most times the harshness is cut by another favor – not this time.
Graham #1 - Harpoon Landbier. This German lager is a light, easily drinkable session beer from Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series. Tan in color, slight malt aroma and very light body, this easy to take down 6 of lager is not compromising on taste. It’s got a burst of malt flavor that stays with you through a clean finish. If this was in sixers it’d b perfect for a summer day outside.
Paul’s 1st – Landbier: This is a delicious session lager. It’s hard to disagree with Graham’s assessment about how often this beer could be consumed. I would love to drink this beer after work on a cool late summer day.
Brad #2 - Leviathan Imperial IPA; I love this beer. The regular IPA is too light for me but this one does well with the 4 (Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, an Amarillo) Hops used. Easy to drink and spicy enough to feel it, plus the 10 ABV is hidden under the hops taste which is fantastic.
Graham Número Dos – Harpoon Single [Delta] Hop ESB: Using a new hop variety with this one gives it a different hop character than the regular ESB. Easily drinkable with an herbal aroma and a bronze color, this brew has an earthy hop flavor to it that is delicious.
Paul’s 2nd – Belgian Pale Ale (cask): I am already a big fan of this beer and having it out of the cask doesn’t disappoint. It’s very light and sweet, the Belgian part of it gives the pale part of it a lot of flavor. It’s very easy to drink and the lack of carbonation from the cask makes it really smooth. It’s cloudy out of the cask and looks more like apple cider. This was my favorite of the night and I was looking forward to it as soon as I saw it on the menu. I only wish it came in a larger glass…
Brad #3 - Harpoon Leviathan Triticus: Triticus is Latin for “wheat” and this is a dark wheat wine-style ale and is delicious. Slightly sweet and easily drinkable, this was the winner of the night for me.
Graham Number Trois - Harpoon Bohemian Imperial Pilsner: This brew is part of the 32nd release of their 100 Barrel Series. It is definitely a bog beer with the 9% ABV and the increased malt sweetness. The hops are even more pronounced. It is definitely an “assertive but not overly aggressive beer” as Harpoon describes it, however it leaves me wanting it more aggressive. When ordering it I more wanted a punch-in-the-face mugging in the park imperial pilsner not a brisk walk through the hop/malt tourist part of the park.
Paul’s 3rd – Munich Dark: This dark lager has a great bite to it. It starts smooth but quickly jumps out and let’s you know it’s there. This would be a great beer for late summer or early fall. Honestly, it would be a pretty good beer anytime, but it was a hot day in NYC today and I think I’m in a certain mindset… a hot, dehydrated mindset.
Graham 4th – Harpoon Triticus: Wheat Wine. I’m not sure what that conjures up in your mind…perhaps a barley wine style brew made with wheat malts instead of barley. High in alcohol taste with a sweet malt that will hope to overpower the 12% ABV. Well take that notion, drop the sugary malts, keep the ABV and add a boatload of roasted and burnt malts that blow this brew out of the water. This one drinks like a coffeeish, dark flavored imperial stout. Bit don’t let it fool you, it’s still 11.1% ABV.
Filed under: Event, Live Blog
