Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
Country: USA
Size: 35.5cl
ABV: 5.9%
Price: 32kr
Systembolaget: 89080
Okay I have to be honest from the start: I had never heard of Harpoon before today. I was given this as a sample to try but I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen a bottle until this very afternoon. That is what I love about the beer world though. There are just so many breweries you will never know them all. If you are a beer fan you will always be surprised by new beer and products that are continuously coming out. Some beers can have been brewed from before you were even born and then one day you will just stumble upon them and you’ll instantly fall in love with them. Now that is not to say that every new beer you find is great. We have all at some stage tried a new beer and expected great things only to find out it tasted like horse piss. It is always a bit of a gamble. I would summarise that Harpoon falls somewhere in between the middle and the bottom of the pack.
The beer had a slightly fluffy, deep golden colour and a nice frothy head that held rather well. Freshly cut hay and grass combined with smaller notes of grapefruit and currants on the nose. A slight dark fruit tone was also evident in the background. It was nothing remarkable but not particularly off-putting. Upon sipping I found the beer rather watery. I expected a bigger taste profile than what was delivered. It was boring for want of a better word. There were hints of slight herbal hops but nothing that really gripped the taste buds. There was also hits of light bread and bitter grapefruit peel in the tasting. It was also quite crisp with a slight drying finish.
So what did I think of this new addition to my palate? Not much quite frankly. I mean it wasn’t terrible and was certainly not horse piss. If I was handed a bottle at a party I could easily drink it without giving it that much thought, however that is exactly the problem. It’s so bland and unremarkable that it doesn’t nothing to stand out at all. It is clearly a solidly made beer but I see no reason to go for this when there are literally hundreds of more exciting IPAs on the market in the same price range. Shame.