As I sit here and write this post, I am still amazed at how this Saturday was the best $5 I’ve ever spent. Beer and Boston hold a special place in my heart since I was a high school senior. I tasted my first craft beer in the form of a Sam Adams Boston Lager at the tender age of 17. I was away on a camping trip with some friends and we had managed to score some beers. I remember thinking I wanted to be cool, and seem more experienced than my other friends who had chosen Heineken and Corona. From the moment I tasted it I liked it. I couldn’t pick out any of the flavors, or ingredients that make Boston Lager what it is, but I knew I liked it.
Beer Info for the nerds! |
Fast forward to this Saturday, I went to Harpoon at 10:30am to pick up my tickets for the 4pm tour. I can’t stress enough how important it is to do this. By the time me and my friend arrived for our tour (we got there at 3 for some reason) all the tours were booked solid. I’d done Harpoons free tasting, yes FREE, 3 times or so, and have sampled almost all they have to offer. They do rotate their 100 barrel series and seasonals, so there is always something new there.
fresh out of the vessel! |
We then traveled down the brew deck to experience something truly special and unexpected. We were walked over to the fermentation vessels, and after a quick talk about the entire process we were given the chance to sample their flagship IPA….green! Now green was a relatively unknown term to me until I started home brewing, and I’ve really only been to 2 other breweries, Sam Adams and the former Buzzards Bay Brewing, and neither offered me this chance. As a homebrewer this was such a great experience to actually taste a successful brewery’s product way before it was finished. It gave me great insight as to how far a beer goes, and I having tasted my own product throughout the process, even the big guy’s beer tastes a little funky before its done!
L to R: Rye IPA,IPA,Summer,100 Barrel, Leviathan,Chocolate Stout,Cider,UFO Ras, UFO,UFO Pale |
No comments:
Post a Comment