It was a change necessitated by time and tastes with a marketplace now flush with hundreds of versions of the hop-forward style. Brewers looked to break down the long-standing recipe and build it back up with new malt, new hops, 50 percent more dry hops and even a new alcohol content, with Mad Hatter’s original 5.25% sitting below what many of today’s IPAs offer. They had been tinkering ever so slightly with their flagship beer, Mad Hatter IPA, and these were the results.Īfter months of discussion, it was time to revamp and reinvigorate the DNA of a beer that had gone relatively untouched since its debut in 1998.
Hops in harpoon ipa series#
In reality, each order of the beer-part of a series of four test batches-acted as a two-way mirror for New Holland’s brewers. There was a purposeful mystery surrounding the two one-off beers, perhaps even drawing a little more attention to customer reactions and feedback.
But sometime around mid-2014, unsuspecting patrons were actually playing guinea pig for the Holland, Michigan, brewery’s staff, sipping on beers called “Citra Pants” and the ambiguous, abbreviation-laced NHBC IPA.
Recent options have included a maibock, Czech pilsner and even a fermented tea known as kombucha, dubbed “Pina Colada” by the brewers. gives visitors a selection of special offerings when they grab a seat in the brewpub.
L ike so many breweries around the country, New Holland Brewing Co. Follow him on Twitter at or on Pinterest at Also check out the Beer Nut on Facebook at. Norman Miller is a MetroWest (Mass.) Daily News staff writer. "We've been believers in it for 20 years and it's been our collective style for two decades now," Kenary said.ĭoyle said, "It's been my favorite beer for 20 years now, and I hope its my favorite for another 20 years." It's interesting to watch where the style is going now, and how much bitterness there is."īoth Kenary and Doyle say the Harpoon IPA is still their beer of choice. Kenary said, "We're not folks who like extreme beers. Even our Leviathan Imperial IPA is 10 percent, but it's balanced." "Our goal is to always make sure its balanced. "There are a lot of beers out there that are extreme for the sake of being extreme," said Doyle. Harpoon IPA became a year-round beer in 1994, and now Harpoon brews several other IPAs - a Black IPA, a White IPA, Rich & Dan's Rye IPA and the Leviathan Imperial IPA. Over time, people's palates and tastes changed." "There were a lot of folks who had that reaction, and a few months later, it was their favorite beer," said Kenary. Kenary said he remembers getting letters from people who tried the IPA and didn't like it - at first. In New England, if you wanted an IPA, it was just assumed you meant a Harpoon IPA." It really sold well and it really took off. "We had people pushing us to make it year-round right away. "It was very well received and it created a real buzz," he said. The IPA was popular almost instantaneously, Kenary said. While the IBUs (International bitterness units) are high, it's balanced, so you get the malt side to balance it out." "We were the leaders of that," said Doyle. He said they wanted to make an IPA with American hops and Harpoon's house yeast to give it a more fruity flavor and aroma. "We conceptualized it, but Tod really deserves all the credit for creating the beer," Doyle said.ĭoyle said the only IPAs around at the time were more English-style IPAs, which he wasn't a big fan of.
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