#21 Harpoon Brewery

The Harpoon Brewery

306 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210

Travel Time : 30min Mbta Orange to Downtown crossing, Change to Red, to South Station, Change to Silver Line, too Harbor Street.

Cost: $5.00

Tour Times: From 11 to 5pm (6) every half an hour, the tour is half an hour, with a half an hour tasting at the end.

So to get to Harpoon it is an extreme trek through Boston, but I feel its totally worth it. This tour begins in the brewery with an explanation of how to make beer, the yeast and water and all that jazz. I did learn a new vocabulary word, wort, which is the liquid good stuff produced during the primary stages of brewing. This tour had two guides, that were extremely informative, and a lot of fun.

After the explanation of how to make beer, while we were at the top level of the brewery looking down at all the tanks, we were actually brought down onto the main floor. Now this is a craft brewery that actually brews and bottles in the facility so everything was on and brewing away. We were given the 5 oz tasting glasses at the beginning of the tour, and halfway through we were allowed to taste a beer that was almost done, but not quite there yet. This was still in the process and I believe they said it was still unfiltered, which explained the murky looking amber color. It also tasted a tad different, and was not something I really enjoyed, but was definitely a cool and different experience.

We then went on to the bottle and storage facility. I find these things interesting mainly because I love different packaging and labels. Thats me in the warehouse, with floor to ceiling full packages of beer. It quite possibly was the most amount of beer I've seen in my life. And that was the end of the tour, it was quick informative and fun, the way a tour should be especially with the promise of beer at the end.

So the tasting room was cool, it had a bar vibe to it (and a full gift shop of course) and it had every single Harpoon brew on tap, this included the UFO and even seasonal. You were allowed to try as many and as much as you wanted within the half an hour time frame. In the beginning they explained the different types of beer they had on tap, and then it was free game. And when that half an hour was up, they rang a bell, said last call and you were allowed one more 5oz sample. I was able to try the cider, the dark, the traditional IPA, the raspberry, which is my favorite beer, at least for now, and an interesting combination of the darkest and the cider which they labeled a snake bite, and was really quite good.

I did end up taking a 6 pack of raspberry home, mainly because it was cheaper there than at the local liquor store. But they do offer the growler, a big jug for relatively cheap, with a bottle deposit, which you can fill up with anything on tap.

I have to say, I can not wait to go back! This is a must do!

Don't Forget to Check Out Their Website: http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/