By: Amanda - Loves Beer and Life Published:
Yes you read that right. This St. Patrick’s Day we’ll be rolling out the barrels of our latest beer - Harpoon Boston Irish Stout. This Irish stout has quickly become a brewery favorite, and has been the product of internal and external research and development (in other words, we’ve been sampling a lot of stouts!)
The idea behind Harpoon creating an Irish Stout is not new. We tried it once in the 90’s as a spring seasonal, but decided on what is now our Harpoon Celtic Red. However, 20 years later, we got the urge to try our hand at it again. We brewed, we tasted, we tested it at select bars in Boston and took everyone’s feedback into consideration and what resulted is something that we are truly proud of.
This draft-only Irish stout was made with six different types of malt, including roasted and chocolate, with a small dose of Willamette hops.
This is truly a Boston Irish Stout – made in Boston, by Boston, for Boston.
We've been brewing here for 26 years, and have always enjoyed the mix of great beer and good friends that Boston’s pub culture inspires. Hopefully we've helped create that combination here at the Brewery as well, but the Irish pub may have been one of the first inspirations, and we wanted to pay tribute to it. So we hope to raise a pint of Harpoon Boston Irish Stout with you soon!
By: Jaime Schier - QA/QC Manager Published:
Awhile ago we announced that we have purchased our own canning line, and will be canning Harpoon beer at our Boston facility. Many people expressed their concern about their favorite Harpoon beer being packaged in a can versus the brown bottle that they have come to know and love. We brought in Harpoon's QA/QC Manager Jaime Schier to debunk some of the myths about craft beer in cans.
Myth: If a beer is in a can it means it is of lesser quality
Not so! Back in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s that may have been true in some cases, but the technology involved in making & filling cans has come a long way since then. It’s like comparing 8 tracks to mp3’s.
Myth: Aluminum cans make beer taste bad
Nuh-uh! One of beer’s mortal enemies is oxygen, which causes staling reactions that make beer taste like wet newspaper. A properly seamed can lid creates an air-impenetrable barrier, delaying the onset of oxidation and stale beer.
Myth: Last time I had a canned beer, I could taste the metal
Well then I bet the last time you had a canned beer was in the ‘70’s. Aluminum beverage cans these days have super-high tech polymer liners that protect beer flavor & aroma from metallic off flavors. Our can manufacturer, Ball Corp., has even taken the technology so far as to have different liners for different types of beers based on their pH. That’s science, kids!
Myth: Beer in cans always tastes “skunked”
Pepe LePew finds your species-ist bias insensitive and offensive. Skunking in the technical sense is a chemical reaction involving the hop component of beer; the reaction is driven by exposure to light in the blue wavelength of the light spectrum (bonus science reference: “blue” is the light wavelength from 450 to about 500 nm). Since cans allow no light to pass they are the perfect protection against skunking.
Myth: Only light beers should be in cans
Sure, if the only beer you’d ever want to drink while boating, golfing, camping or mountain biking is light beer. But if you want to go fishing and crack into a delicious pale ale, or enjoy a fantastic Octoberfest while sitting around the campfire, or a crisp refreshing hefeweizen while golfing you might need to reconsider your opinion of canned beer…
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