Harpoon, or How I fell in love with porter but what the...?

[Jack]

Back in the summer of 2005, I went on vacation to visit my brother in Boston. I went to the Union Oyster House, got some oysters, and the bartender asked if I wanted a beer. Not being familiar with any of the New England breweries, I just picked a name at random – Harpoon. The bartender gave me a beer that I thought was a porter. It was dark, crisp, and roasty. I thought it was delicious and inspired me to read Garrett Oliver's book A Brewmasters Table, which got me into beer.

I've learned a lot about beer since then, so I can't be sure if it actually was a porter. Anyway, I was looking at their beers on Beer Advocate and Harpoon never brewed a porter as far as I can tell. My best guess is that it was a Harpoon Imperial Stout, but the descriptions of its mouthfeel don't ring a bell.

Does anyone have any idea what else it could have been?

 

[hopsalot]

The pizza place where I bartend sells Harpoon IPA, not a IPA more of a biscuit woody flavored pale not bitter, but the brewery is sound. Never had a dark harpoon we are getting kegs from then so I will post what's up

 

[chumprock]

Doesn't Harpoon make a Dunkel?

Not quite a porter, but it is a bit dark.

They also make a brown, iirc.

 

[I-Hop]

Sounds like you had a Munich Dark, which is a Dunkel. I'm a huge Harpoon IPA fan, but the Munich Dark is a great beer as well. Harpoon has a great lineup of beers. They even have a 100 Barrel Series of limited edition beers as well as their Leviathin Series of big beers. Those are only produced in 120 barrel batches. If your ever in Boston again, visit their brewery. They are very customer friendly and you will enjoy it.

 

[Jack]

Sounds like you had a Munich Dark, which is a Dunkel. I'm a huge Harpoon IPA fan, but the Munich Dark is a great beer as well. Harpoon has a great lineup of beers. They even have a 100 Barrel Series of limited edition beers as well as their Leviathin Series of big beers. Those are only produced in 120 barrel batches. If your ever in Boston again, visit their brewery. They are very customer friendly and you will enjoy it.

If I can get the time off from work, I'm thinking about going sometime this summer but we'll see. The only difficulty will be trying to figure out the best way to bring beer back with me.