Harpoon Brewery Tour

I landed in Boston right around 10am. That gave me a lot of free time before I could check into my hotel at 3pm. And this is why I love having an iPhone. I did a quick search for the Samuel Adams brewery, but was bummed to find out that it is closed on Sundays. With the idea of a brewery tour in mind, I googled "Boston Brewery Tours." That's when the Harpoon Brewery popped up, I read that they are not only open, but also offer brewery tours, on Sundays. Plan set!

I first started going on brewery tours when my friend Sally and I lived in Minneapolis. We would come up with grand plans for the day, call it "adventuring," and be off. We've toured in 3 different states: Summit (MN), Leinenkugel's (WI), and Yuengling (PA), and I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one other here. Each time I tour a brewery, I buy a pint glass there, and am working on one mighty collection for the day that I finally own a home and have a place to unpack my boxes.

Anyhow. This was the first time I was all alone on a tour. Thank God Peace Corps taught me how to do anything I want to do, and do it alone. No more awkward alone-ness. I GPSd my way down to the brewery, found some parking, and went in. For $5 I got a tour of the brewing and bottling facilities and a nice long time in the tap room, doing what the brewers called "finding your new favorite beer."

I won't describe the process of beer brewing in depth, but it involves water, a starch, yeast and hops, some heat, some cold, some time and some love. The difference in flavors comes from using different ingredients as the source of starch (some options include malted barley, cereal, rice or corn). Brewers often make seasonal brews by adding all kinds of different flavors like pumpkin, fruits or spices. The end result is, in my opinion, the intersection of art and science.

Harpoon Brewery was founded in 1986 by two college buddies after a trip to Europe. They saw how important small breweries were to the sense of community, and wanted to bring that back to New England. In 1987 they received the first permit to be issued by Massachusetts in twenty five years to brew and package beer commercially. They've grown quite a bit since then, and still brew fantastic beers.

Since you couldn't come on the tour with me, here are some pictures of the Boston Brewery.

(Inside the Tap Room, a wall of beer cans from around the world.)

(The Lauter Tun - Extracting the liquid from the solid ingredients.)

(Shiny equipment in a beautiful old building.)

(Fermentation Tanks - letting the yeast eat the sugars and and make beer!)

(Pouring beer straight from the fermentation tank - this is the freshest beer you will ever drink.)

(This is what the freshest beer in the world looks like.)

What a great way to kill some time, explore a city, and learn something, all while trying to find my new favorite beer!