Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Harpoon Brewery Tour and Filming at CBC

Thanks to an awesome girlfriend and group of friends, this past weekend was pretty kickass. On Friday night I was thrown a surprise birthday party, with friends who traveled from all over New England. Even a friend from the far corner of the US flew over to celebrate. Tiny glasses of Mexican liquor and easy-drinking beer was consumed...rather heavily. Although the night did a number on us, we arose the next day looking for a little beer adventure. Figuring as how you, the reader, are likely here for the beer, I thought I'd share our experience. What started off as a trip to the Harpoon Brewery ended up as a day dedicated to local beer and quite possibly an appearance on a new TV show.

I've only been to the Harpoon Brewery for their festivals and once for a beer tasting, so after 5+ years in Boston a brewery tour was long overdue. For $5 you get a solid 30 minute tour and 25 minutes of drinking in the tasting room, which includes 10 or so fresh Harpoon beers. The tour is what you'd expect, with an explanation of the Harpoon brewing process and walk-through of the entire facility. Highlight of the tour: you do get some super fresh Harpoon IPA straight from the conditioning tank, which we all agreed, is better than when it comes on draught. No where near as clear, little carbonation, and much hoppier...it is a treat.

Taps at Harpoon Brewery Store

One of the other reasons I wanted to check out Harpoon was because they were featuring the newest 100 Barrel Series beer in the tasting room, the Island Creek Oyster Stout. Just to clarify, this beer does not taste like oysters, although I believe they are thrown into the boil. I was more curious than anything else to try a beer brewed that was actually brewed with oysters.

Harpoon Brewery, Oyster Stout

After sampling an array of Harpoon beers, our 25 minutes were up and we took off from the South Boston brewer. Looking for some more fresh beer, one place came to mind: Cambridge Brewing Company. Upon arrival, the place was pretty quiet (which was awesome), and half the restaurant looked like a Hollywood set. If some of you haven't heard, some filming has been taking place at Cambridge Brewing Company for a new Discovery Channel show. They are filming the pilot episode at CBC, and the chosen host (dude with the racing striped goatee, who I did not get the name of) apparently owns a number of brewpubs across the country.

Filming at CBC

Besides the excitement of possibly being filmed for a TV show, the beer at CBC was (and always is) the highlight. Tripel Threat, Charles River Porter, Big Man Ale, Weekapaug Gruit, and Blunderbuss were the chosen ones during our trip.

Cambridge Brewing Company Line-Up

Cambridge Brewing Company Beers

As I received my last beer, a little treasure was put on rotation - 2007 YouEnjoyMyStout. As a personal favorite offering from CBC, the wonderful bartender kindly bestowed a little tasting upon us.

2007 YouEnjoyMyStout

Sadly, our mini-beer adventure had to come to an end. What I thought was going to be a typical Boston weekend, turned out to be one for the ages. While the passion for beer is evident on this blog and typically the main focus, it doesn't come close to the feelings I have towards friends that made this weekend unforgettable. Cheers to all who made it so special!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That is MICHAEL "MUFASA" FERGUSON of BJ's Brew Pubs... he is their Director of brewing. He makes a lot of appearences on the Brewing Network... and has a really deep James Earl Jones type voice (hence the Mufasa nickname)...

I am not sure what the show is... I hope it is a good beer show... no idea!

Gareth said...

Ahh ok, thanks for the info. I'm hoping for a good show too. I'll make sure to post something when I hear more about it.