Harpoon Celtic Ale - Harpoon Brewery

Redrover

Illinois

3.9/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Harpoon Celtic on tap at the Distillery. It was served in a marked glass, the beer is a dark garnet with a sticky tan head.

It has an aroma of lightly roasted malts, biscuits and plums.

The beer leads with toasty malts and a hint of caramel. There is a touch of spice that reminds me of rye bread and some crackers.

The mouth is slightly thick with low carbonation.

It is very sessionable and easy to pair with food. Harpoon has nailed the style.

Serving type: on-tap

04-15-2013 14:37:24 | More by Redrover

dbrauneis

New Jersey

3.54/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

Served on-tap at Rattle N Hum in New York, NY

A: Pours a clear deep copper to amber in color with light to moderate amounts of visible carbonation and some golden orange + red highlights. The beer has a finger tall foamy off-white head that quickly reduces to a very thin film covering about 75% of the surface of the beer and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Light to moderate aromas of caramel malts with a touch of light fruit sweetness and some floral hops.

T: Upfront there are moderate flavors of toasted caramel malts with a hint of light fruit sweetness. Light amounts of earthy and floral hops towards the finish which impart a light amount of bitterness that fades rather quickly.

M: Just shy of medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Slightly thin.

O: Pretty easy to drink and a little better than other offerings in the Irish red style. Not a favorite for me but I could easily have a couple of these in a single session.

Serving type: on-tap

04-14-2013 19:58:16 | More by dbrauneis

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.69/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Served on tap in a pint glass

Appearance –Served a mahogany colored brew with ruby like highlights and a small off white head. The head fades rather fast to leave a persistent film on the top of the brew.

Smell – The aroma is heaviest of a sweet caramel smell mixed with notes of lightly roasted malt and a biscuit smell. Mixed with these are some aromas of a buttery toffee and a light grassy hop.

Taste – The taste begins with a lightly roasted bready flavor as well as some caramel sweetness. As the taste advances further some toffee, biscuit, and some fruit flavors a apple and a light cherry come to the tongue. The flavors remain relatively constant throughout the rest of the taste until the end where a light citrus and herbal hop flavor come to the tongue.

Mouthfeel –The body of the brew is on the medium side in terms of its thickness and creaminess with a carbonation level that is on the average to just below average side. The medium body and carbonation suit the drinkable and lightly roasted and sweeter flavors of the brew quite well. Very appropriately done.

Overall – A decent red ale. It has an easy drinking and non-complex flavor profile that has nice smoother flavors which makes a good beer to have while enjoying the company of other.

Serving type: on-tap

03-14-2013 00:21:57 | More by Darkmagus82

Brewman7284

Connecticut

3.13/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A - Nice looking amber almost a red ale, Very little amount of head one finger, not much lacing at all

S - Boring to me not much of anything

T - Easy to drink, goes down like water and has way to much carbination

M - Not much flavor seems like i am drinking seltzer water

O - Not one of my favorites

Serving type: on-tap

03-01-2012 18:36:47 | More by Brewman7284

nezelrac

New York

3.55/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I don't really know what to do with this one. So many parts of it were really enjoyable to down-right delicious, but other parts made it, well, less than I hoped for. Was there something wrong with the glass? or my palate? I looked through the other notes posted before typing this one up because I wanted to double check, but they, too, are all over the place...???

A - really beautiful copper-red; nice off-white foam that yields a bit of lacing and has moderate retention

S - clean malty nose; a little toasty malt and hints of the sweeter end of the malt spectrum; definite hop presence, but a little non-descript

T - very clean and precise/focused malt profile with a reprise of the toasty note and the sweetness; the hops are lending a hand in the flavor profile, backing up the malt; hint of band-aid? brett.?

M - has a medium body with a good edge

D - session worthy; but every time the band-aid returned...?

Serving type: on-tap

02-14-2011 01:05:41 | More by nezelrac

FollowedMyFolly

New Jersey

2.2/5  rDev -37.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

I am a huge fan of reds and have a huge respect for Irish beer. Most reds that I have tried are American so the Irish style reds are somewhat new to me. This beer was not in favor to my personal pallet. Harpoon I will keep trying to find the beer for me in your company. I still keep the faith.

Serving type: on-tap

02-13-2011 19:42:06 | More by FollowedMyFolly

BruMeister

New York

4.22/5  rDev +20.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Harpoon Celtic has a reddish amber color, taste has a good malty character with a moderate hoppiness. Good head retention but the first taste almost has a little too much head for my taste. Once I get into the beer itself I am quite pleased. This ale has a medium body and is very drinkable. One of my favorites on draft at my local pub.

Serving type: on-tap

05-13-2010 13:52:20 | More by BruMeister

david18

New York

3.03/5  rDev -13.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

I had this beer becuase it was the only new one on draft that day at my local beer bar. I'm not a big fan of Irish Reds but as far as the style goes, Harpoons is quite nice. Good red/amber color, not much aroma but a refreshing flavor that will be enjoyed by anyone who likes irish beers and even those in the mood for an "American Light Lager"

Serving type: on-tap

03-27-2010 21:30:16 | More by david18

Augustiner719

Connecticut

4.08/5  rDev +16.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Had on tap at the brewery in Boston MA.

Pours a brilliant almost crystal clear reddish tawny brown color with a perfect white head that laces well down the glass. The aroma was a bit muted, smooth caramel and cereal notes slightly.Tasted creamy as ever and nice and malty. Slight hops flavor balances the sweetness enough. Extremely smooth and refreshing. Does well as it warms as well but cold is perfect. This is a huge session beer for red ale drinkers. A very good example of the style.

Serving type: on-tap

02-24-2010 21:04:54 | More by Augustiner719

Reagan1984

Massachusetts

3.15/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

In the process of posting 4 reviews that I wrote on my blackberry in the spring and just realized I never posted them.

Pint came with no head and the beer was a clear am,ber color with no visible carbonation. No lacing to speak of.

Aroma is of caramel and slightly bready.

Everything was light in this beer, the aroma was mild as is the flavor. Some malt tones that seem monotone and slight sweetness. Nothing deep about it.

Body is light as is the carbonation. A little bit slick

I drank the pint quickly and moved on to another more interesting beer.

Serving type: on-tap

12-05-2009 20:58:41 | More by Reagan1984

Amalak

New York

3.08/5  rDev -12.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

I had this beer off the tap at Boulevard Tavern in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
A- Red in color with a slight head an lacing.
S- Has kind of a bark scent to it.
T- Off the bat it had a very sour aftertaste. But once I got used to it, I noticed a slightly tart fruitiness to it. It has a very dry aftertaste. Not a bad beer, but not a fan.

Serving type: on-tap

09-14-2009 20:38:21 | More by Amalak

morebeergood

Massachusetts

2.95/5  rDev -16%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Had a pint on tap at Goody Glover's in the North End. Served in a Harpoon Celtic Ale glass. Reddish orange color. No real head or any lacing. Smelled a bit doughy. Taste was pretty boring. Slight bit of citrus fruit and hops. Very thin. Easy to drink, but nothing memorable. I only ordered it because I was in an Irish bar and I haven't seen it on tap a lot. A boring seasonal.

Serving type: on-tap

03-20-2009 22:30:44 | More by morebeergood

Gambrinus1184

Connecticut

3.65/5  rDev +4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Served on-tap @ the Corner in Litchfield, Conn.

A: Poured a reddish, copper amber with a thin head of tight carbonation which faded into a thin lace after a moment.

S: Smells malty and a bit metallic right away. There are some hops in the nose also, but it's mostly that sweet toasted malt.

T: Pretty standard red ale taste here, with a smooth, slightly creamy malt body and a mild hop finish. Certainly an easy drinker, but nothing amazing.

M: The body feels creamier than it should, maybe just from the types of malts used, but it's more satisfying than many reds.

D: It's a great brew to session if you don;t want the frills, but want an easy-drinking seasonal. Harpoon has crafted a nice, unoffensive and enjoyable brew.

I don't understand why Harpoon re-branded their Hibernian Ale, but they didn't change anything with the formula, just the label. I wonder if the AOH had something to do with the changeover? At any rate, still a nice go-to red during the late winter/early spring months.

Serving type: on-tap

03-14-2009 16:53:41 | More by Gambrinus1184

darknova306

New York

3.68/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I had this on tap at J.B. Quimby's last night.

This beer pours a deep copper color with a two finger thick head. The bubbles in the head are large and coarse and pure white. After settling, the head remained thick enough to keep the beer covered.

The first impression you get from this beer is that it smells like lightly toasted bread. If there was any hop aroma, I wasn't able to detect it. Some British malt comes through in the nose, slightly offsetting the bread aromas. A minimal amount of yeast esters manage to poke through as well, lending a touch of a sweet floral aroma.

As with the aroma, the flavor of this beer is dominated by bread. There is a solid malt base that uses the bread and toasted notes to balance itself rather than hops. There do not seem be more than a token amount of hops as the hop bite was barely noticeable on the back of the tongue.

While not a light beer, this is an easily drinkable one. It's thick enough in the mouth so you know it's a solid beer, but it's thin enough to go down pretty quick.

Overall
Harpoon's Celtic Ale is not the most exciting beer, but you could do a ton worse. It's definitely a solid beer that should be really good on those cool rainy spring evenings. I would have enjoyed it more had I not been in a hoppy mood when I tried it. Don't expect an award winner, but this is a decent beer that's worth trying if you're not in the mood for hops.

Serving type: on-tap

03-07-2009 17:38:57 | More by darknova306

Stinkypuss

Pennsylvania

2.63/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured into a pint glass from tap

Light gold in appearance, Irish red? A nice amount of head and lace saves appearance somewhat, but looks nothing like the style.

Nose is very light indeed, slight bready malts and thats about it.

Tastes metallic like iron water, malt is MIA in the flavor profile. A slight lemony/minerally hop character is barely perceivable.

Mouthfeel is pretty good, light and crisp.

Drinkability is average at best. Not reccommended, in fact next time I'll pass. Not awful but I expect better.

Serving type: on-tap

02-23-2009 15:50:56 | More by Stinkypuss

jeffthecheff

Connecticut

3.73/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Color is good with a clear brownish copper. Head and lacing are not very good, however. This one dissipated very quickly.

Aroma is very mild, with a sweet malt smell and some hops. There is also an fruity ale aroma that is noticeable.

Taste is sweet with a slight bitterness. Also slightly fruity. Nothing offensive and nothing special, but its pretty good.

Mouthfeel finishes on the dry side. Feels smooth, no real flaws here. The drinkability on this brew is pretty good. It went quickly with an appetizer, as MJ would say it is "moreish" Beer selection here wasn't great but I ordered another one so that must be saying something.

Serving type: on-tap

02-21-2009 00:39:10 | More by jeffthecheff

Stimack

New York

3.6/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Gave this brew a try on tap last evening, it was poured to a nice amber color with a good-sized white head. Had some legs but left minimal lacing. The aroma was sweet on two fronts, seemed like a sweet malt aroma but also sweet wafts of fruit. Imagine it was the same thing just picking up slight variations, but who the heck knows. The flavor had a nice malt presence with a clear caramel feel as well as slight yeast like breadiness. While this brew was not overly spectacular it is well done and seems to be a easy drinking brew.

Serving type: on-tap

02-12-2009 17:44:36 | More by Stimack

donkeyrunner

Massachusetts

3.2/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Beautiful, bright ruby color with a thin white head that is quick to fade. Bummer about the lack of retention and lace because the color is great.

Smells sweetly of cherry hard candy and watered down Harpoon Winter Warmer spice. Light floral hops.

Syrupy and sweet cherry orange citrus up front with more watered down Winter Warmer spice and some hop bitter in back. Far too sweet and syrupy to drink more than a couple.

What ever happened to Harpoon Hibernian? Is this a rename or a completely different recipe recipe?

Serving type: on-tap

02-08-2009 13:39:45 | More by donkeyrunner

Duhast500

Massachusetts

3.53/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a pint glass from the tap.

The color is a amber/red color, with a foamy white head.

The smell is malty, with a little bready yeast smell.

The taste is malty, with some fruity flavors mixed with some hop bitterness.

This a real good irish red. A seasonal beer that is well bodied and has a nice even feel to it.

Serving type: on-tap

02-06-2009 19:54:31 | More by Duhast500

nrbw23

Ohio

3.63/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A- Pours a reddish amber color with a white foamy head that left a good amount of lacing down my glass.

S- I could pick up a lot of caramel malts and then a tiny bit of hops and a floral smell.

T- Nothing crazy here tastes like most other Irish brews. Malty and very pleasant tasting.

M- Medium in body and carbonation. Pretty smooth overall.

D- Nothing special here easy drinker.

Serving type: on-tap

05-31-2008 08:15:24 | More by nrbw23

msolar

Massachusetts

3.28/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I was able to try this beer on tap at the brewery. It was good, but it didn't catch my attention as anything to look for in the store next time I'm shopping.

Pours nicely with an amber color and nice roasted smell. Good flavor with medium drinkability. I'd suggest Sam Adams Irish Red before this one.

Serving type: on-tap

04-03-2008 02:04:07 | More by msolar

asabreed

New York

3.08/5  rDev -12.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Had a couple pints at Coach's Corner in Savannah. I couldn't see the tap, but asked the waitress what it was. She replied, "It's called Hiberian (sic), and it's kind of like Killian's."

Appearance: Deep amber color, not much head retention, not a lot of carbonation, and little lacing sticking around.

Smell: Residual sweetness mixed with a bit of fruit and sweeter malt flavors, some grain and bread aromas with a bit of citrus.

Taste: Residual malt sweetness with some grain and bready malt flavors, slight citrus from the hops, but not much. Hopping this up would mask the mediocre malt profile I'd imagine, but as it stands this is easy going, but fairly boring with hardly anything going on at all.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a good balance and crispness.

Drinkability: The main problem with this beer is: if you told me it was Killian's I would've believed you, which isn't really a good thing, especially from someone like Harpoon, even though I have had many mediocre brews from them. That said, this is still pretty unimpressive. I think Harpoon needs to do their single barrel series and make it more widely available -- I'd like to see some experimentation. Otherwise, I'll pay two dollars less and order a pint of Killian's...

Serving type: on-tap

03-20-2008 19:06:29 | More by asabreed

harpo111

Georgia

3.23/5  rDev -8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

a:nice copper orange color
s:malty, with a citris ring to it
t: peppy, carbonated, malty, citrisy...tangy...some hoppyness..nice and complex
m: smooth
d: nice...very smooth beer. great with food.

had one of these at the flying saucer. nice with the stuff i was munching on. not overpowering..
would drink again

Serving type: on-tap

03-17-2008 04:18:16 | More by harpo111

IBUnit63

Massachusetts

3.13/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

True copper color with nice carbonation.

There's an earthy hop character; heavy on the malt. Mild/sweet.

Tastes heavy but mild - malt, hops balance nicely. No alcohol character.

Gentle on the mouth - moderate finish.

Definitely a session beer but a little heavy for my taste.

Serving type: on-tap

03-07-2008 13:30:25 | More by IBUnit63

Kendo

New York

3.63/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Got it on tap at the Lionheart in Albany.

A: Coppery-amber body with a 1-finger bubbly beige-ish head. Left rings of lacing behind.

S: Not terribly strong in the nose -- caramel malt and a hint of floral hops.

T: As you'd expect for a Red Ale -- mostly caramel malt and grainy malt flavors up front, though it's decently balanced with a touch of hop spice in the back end. I get a little bit of a metallic taste, especially as it warms, but it's not over-the-top or completely off-putting.

M: Light-to-medium in heft (closer to light), with active carbonation that helps impart a dryish feel at the finish.

D: Good. Fairly light in ABV (5.4%) and no heavy flavors helped this one go down pretty easily, though personally I'd prefer a little less big-bubbled carbonation to make it smoother and creamier.

Serving type: on-tap

03-06-2008 15:04:00 | More by Kendo