Harpoon Brewery
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257px, Harpoon Brewery is an employee owned
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...
, with locations in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, and
Windsor, Vermont Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As the "Birthplace of Vermont", the town is where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted in 1777, thus marking the founding of the Vermont Republic, a sovereign state until 1791, when ...
.


History

Harpoon Brewery, also known as Mass. Bay Brewing Company, Inc., was originally founded in 1986. The brewery was the first company to obtain a permit to manufacture and sell alcohol in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
in more than 15 years, and as a result laid claim to Massachusetts Brewing permit #001. Harpoon originally struggled to break even; the company reportedly first made a profit in 1992. Harpoon was the first brewery in New England to brew an India Pale Ale. The beer was originally designed by Head Brewer (at the time) Tod Mott, in 1992 and first sold as a summer seasonal in 1993 and quickly became the brewery's flagship beer. Harpoon IPA quickly became a staple of the American India pale ale style and was found on tap at bars and restaurants in Greater Boston. Locally, Harpoon is known for annual festivals that they hold at the brewery. In 1990, Harpoon threw the first Harpoon Octoberfest, which drew 2,000 people. Recent Harpoon Octoberfests have drawn more than 15,000 attendees. Harpoon also holds an annual St. Patrick's Day festival in early March and Harpoonfest in May. In 2001, Harpoon started a five-mile road race known as the Harpoon 5-Miler. The race has reportedly raised more than $2.2 million for ALS research via The Angel Fund. In 2002, Harpoon launched the Harpoon Point-to-Point, a cycling race that raises money for the Vermont Foodbank. The race last raised more than $100,000. Harpoon purchased the former Catamount Brewery plant in Windsor, Vermont, in 2000, expanding its brewing operations beyond Massachusetts. In July 2014, while then the twelfth-largest craft brewery in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the company became employee-owned via the creation of the Harpoon Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Harpoon's cofounder, Rich Doyle, along with other key investors, sold most of their shares in Harpoon and transferred them into an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In 2015, for the first time since its founding, Harpoon Brewery suspended production of its beer citing an imminent blizzard. Following the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the Brewery ran a campaign to fight food insecurity, donating money from beer purchases to the Vermont Foodbank and Greater Boston
Food Bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...
. In June 2022, Harpoon acquired the Long Trail Brewery of Bridgewater, Vermont. The deal involved Harpoon assuming possession of the Long Trail, Otter Creek and Shed brands.


Products

Harpoon has
seasonal beer A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during various seasons, p ...
s, including an Octoberfest Marzen style Ale
Harpoon Octoberfest
and Harpoon Camp Wannamango
Harpoon Camp Wannamango
Another line of beers from Harpoon is its '100 Barrel Series', which consists of a number of one of a kind batches.
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series
It brews multiple other year-round beers including the award-winning Dark, UFO
Hefeweizen Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a ...
, UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen, UFO White, and Boston Irish Stout. It also brews several house beers at Boston bars, including "Sevens Ale" for the Sevens Ale House in Beacon Hill. Other offerings include Rec League, a New England Pale Ale, Big League, a big and juicy IPA, UFO Light Force, a light white, UFO Maine Blueberry, and selected Clown Shoes beers. In 2017, Harpoon began collaborating with Cleveland's
Great Lakes Brewing Company Great Lakes Brewing Company is a brewery and brewpub in Cleveland, Ohio. The first brewpub and microbrewery in the state, Great Lakes Brewing has been noted as important to Cleveland's local identity and as one of the initial forces behind th ...
to package several varieties of Great Lakes Beer in cans. In 2018, Harpoon teamed with
Dunkin' Donuts DD IP Holder LLC, doing business as Dunkin', and originally Dunkin' Donuts, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 19 ...
to release Dunkin' Coffee Porter. They have released collaborative mix packs of beer with Dunkin’ Donuts every year since. In 2022, the company's flavors included Harpoon Dunkin’ Cold Brew Coffee Porter, Harpoon Dunkin’ Hazelnut Blonde Stout and Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Roll Cream Ale. In 2022, Harpoon teamed up with the
Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...
hockey team to create a limited-edition beer called Hometown Hat Trick. The brewery also introduced a custom blood orange IPA in partnership with the Davio's restaurant in Boston's Seaport District. The same year, the company also introduced a non-alcoholic IPA called Open League, with 35 calories per serving. Harpoon Brewery is also well known for their various pretzels made on site, which are made from leftover yeast of beer brewing. Harpoon used to produce several non-alcoholic sodas, including
root beer Root beer is a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the ...
, orange and cream, and cream soda, but ceased production in 2009. As of 2022, its homemade root beer is available on draft at its breweries.


References


External links


Company website
{{coord, 42, 20, 46.69, N, 71, 02, 03.46, W, display=title Food and drink companies based in Boston Manufacturing companies based in Boston Beer brewing companies based in Massachusetts Beer brewing companies based in Vermont Companies established in 1986 Windsor, Vermont 1986 establishments in Massachusetts