Love Beer, Love Life (i.e., Harpoon throws a party)

We held our first festival at a time when our future was pretty uncertain (don’t worry, this story has a happy ending). This was during the ‘P.I.’ era (pre-IPA), and we weren’t sure we would be around much longer. As consumers first, and brewers second, Rich and Dan decided that if they were going down, it wouldn’t be without a fight. And by fight we mean party. So, in the fall of 1991, unsure of what to expect, we threw the brewery gates open for the first Harpoon Octoberfest. And people came. Lots of people.

Since 1986, our focus has been producing excellent beer and developing traditional brewing styles. Beer is meant to be enjoyed, and, we firmly believe, it’s meant to be enjoyed as part of something larger. So after our first festival in 1991, we added one more goal to our mission: inviting friends to our breweries to enjoy our beer right from the source.

With that in mind, we now host five festivals a year: the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in early March (we are from Boston after all), HarpoonFest in mid-May,  the Harpoon Championships of New England BBQ in Windsor in late July, and, of course, Octoberfest in both Boston and Windsor in the fall. We hope you’ll join us for a beer at one of our festivals soon!