Harpoon Brewery

Introduction: Harpoon Brewery is an American microbrewery, with plants in Boston, Massachusetts and Windsor, Vermont.Founded in 1986, the brewery was the first company to obtain a permit to manufacture and sell alcohol in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in over 25 years. In 2000 it purchased the former Catamount Brewery plant in Windsor VT.Harpoon has played an important part in the rebirth of the microbrewery system in the United States.

As of 2010, it was the ninth-largest craft brewery and 16th-largest overall brewery in the United States.

The brewery is best known for its Harpoon India Pale Ale. It brews five other year-round beers: the original Harpoon Ale, the award-winning Dark, UFO Hefeweizen, UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen, and Rich & Dan's Rye IPA, its latest full-time offering.It also brews several house beers at Boston bars, "1636 Brew" for Harvard's Cambridge Queen's Head Pub and "Sevens Ale" for The Seven's Ale House in Beacon Hill.

Harpoon has four seasonal beers, such as an Octoberfest lager and Celtic Ale, a beer made in the style of an Irish red for St. Patrick's Day.Another line of beers from Harpoon is its '100 Barrel Series' series, which consists of a number of one of a kind batches.A few of the more popular 100 Barrel Series have been reissued as the 'Encore Series', again in limited quantities.

Locally, Harpoon has become famous for their annual festivals that they hold at the brewery. Their St. Patrick's Day, Summer BBQ and Octoberfest festivals have become a staple in the Boston party scene. These are normally weekend long events filled with music, food and of course tons of beer. Harpoon also organizes an annual 5-mile run and a brewery-to-brewery bicycle ride. June 2010 was the 10th Anniversary of the "B2B Ride" with over 300 participants in the 148 mile ride.

Harpoon used to produce several non-alcoholic sodas, including root beer, orange and cream, and cream soda, but ceased production in 2009.