Harpoon Celtic Ale
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(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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Today is the St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston — or Southie, as everyone here in New England calls it. I wanted to drink an Irish or Irish-style beer today, and Harpoon’s Celtic Ale seemed perfect for the occasion. Harpoon has a brewery in Boston, and its Celtic Ale was originally brewed as “Harpoon’s salute to and the celebration of St Patrick.”
But I’ve also had one reader who has been lobbying me quite strongly to try Harpoon’s Celtic Ale, so it was clear I could kill two birds with one stone. The special request came from reader Bruce Paine, a lager-head who has been branching out, discovering new beer and testing his tolerance for hops.
I can understand why he likes this beer. The Celtic Ale is rich with lots of caramel malt, is fairly light-bodied, and it’s not too hoppy. There’s a lot of flavor, but it’s not my cup of tea — literally, the spice and the wateriness create a tea-like quality that, for my taste at least, is a touch off putting. But pair it with food and you should do pretty well with this beer.
The Irish-style Red is very pretty to look at. Celtic Ale has a tanned body, a copper-amber color that fills the pint glass and helps the beer consume airspace with an inch of white, fluffy head. The aroma is grainy, caramel malty, and punctuated by spice. The malt layers through the taste — some caramel, vanilla, bread, and toast. There is a touch of bitterness and winter spice, but it does little to keep the sweetness in check. I would have liked to have found some roasted malt or some piney hops — anything to give the brew more backbone.
From the Harpoon website:
Harpoon Celtic Ale features a deep amber color. The flavor is malty and complex. Celtic Ale has a moderate hop finish that, along with the generous amounts of malt, makes for a medium bodied, smooth, rich beer. Try serving Celtic Ale with a hearty stew… the beer’s robust character will complement the bold flavors. The overall character is a complex maltiness with a deep amber color.
Food would have certainly helped me enjoy the Celtic Ale more. In fact, just thinking about beef stew as I drank the beer improved my impression of the flavor.
And here’s your Harpoon trivia for the day. The original name for the Celtic Ale was “Hibernian” — I imagine calling it Celtic Ale makes the beer easier to market as a St. Patty’s staple. And the good thing about drinking Celtic Ale for St. Paddy’s Day — you can drink a lot of it, because the beer is a mere 5.4% ABV. For those counting the bitterness, it clocks in at a delicate 25 IBU.
Sláinte!
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1 Comments
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thank you, kind sir, for your eloquent tolerance.