In the early 1990s, hoppy Pale Ales were being brewed in the Pacific Northwest and California but there were no craft beers being brewed in the rest of the US that featured high aroma content from Northwest hops. In fact, there were very few brewed on the east coast. It’s hard to believe these days, but back in the early 90s, IPAs weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now. In fact, there were so many people, we had to call family members to come help pour beer! The party continues to this day, with Harpoon Octoberfest festivals at both of our breweries, chicken dancing, oompah bands and all.ġ993 – 2000: Harpoon IPA is Created and We Buy a Brewery Much to our delight (and surprise!), the crowds rolled in. We had always wanted to host a festival at the brewery as an ode to the great Munich fall festival, so we thought this would be one last hurrah. Although some people thought it was a little strange that we brewed a beer with spices in it, Harpoon Winter Warmer quickly became the beer synonymous with the New England winter, and our most anticipated seasonal every year.Ī couple year’s later, we did another Harpoon “first” – Harpoon Octoberfest! When we decided to throw our first Harpoon Octoberfest at our brewery in Boston, it was considered a bit of a Hail Mary pass times were tough and it wasn’t clear if we would be in business another year. It was, after all, the first craft beer seasonal brewed in New England. Harpoon Winter Warmer is introduced! A beer with cinnamon and nutmeg in it – are you crazy?! That’s mostly what we heard when we first started bringing Harpoon Winter Warmer to friends and family. But read on for more anyway.ġ988 – 1990: A Couple of “Firsts” for Harpoon Finally, in June of 1987 the “original” Harpoon Ale was brewed and delivered to Harpoon’s first accounts the Sevens Ale House on Charles Street and Doyle’s Café in Jamaica Plain. Friends and family were the lucky (and, at times, unlucky) quality control team through many months of test batches. Russ started formulating the recipe for Harpoon Ale in the summer of 1986. Enter Russ Heissner, a graduate of the UC Davis School of Fermentation Sciences. We had the building, brewing equipment, and a bunch of people who loved to drink beer….now we just needed someone to come and actually brew the beer. In 1986 the Harpoon Brewery received Brewing Permit #001 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.Īnd that, friends, was the beginning of Harpoon…. They wanted to bring that to Boston, so they decided to do just that. While traveling in Europe after college, they drank many diverse, fresh, local beers and experienced firsthand the wonderful beer culture that existed just across the pond.
Dan Kenary, Rich Doyle, and George Ligeti were passionate about beer, but they weren’t able find what they were looking for on tap at their local pubs. It all started with three college buddies and a shared love of beer.
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