Harpoon Munich Dark

Brewed by Harpoon Brewery
Style: Dunkel
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

Pours near black with ruby hues and a thin light brown head. Aroma of dark bread, light caramel, and plums. Taste is caramelized maltiness, complex vinous and toasted notes. Notes of roast, molasses, and dark fruitiness. A bit surprising from a lager. Finishes slighly smoky with a subdued bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied with a slight stickiness and smooth carbonation. A great dunkel.

I dont know much about dunkels but this stuff was great. similar to a brown ale. malty toasted nutty aroma. dark brownish ruby in color with a small tan head. light to medium body with a big flavor of roasted malts, nuts, toffee, and brown sugar. I really enjoyed this.

Bottle: This brew pours a very dark brown and is barely clear with a small tan head. Nose is nutty,definate plum overtones, slightly malty, and reminds me of fruit bread. Taste consists of a initial dark fruitiness that stands aside to show the rather maltness of this dunkel. The palate is great in my opinion. It creeps up after a few seconds and bombards you with a fruity and caramel bitterness. I liked this a lot.

(12 oz bottles: Obtained in trades with shadey and jjpm74, thanks Shane and John!) I have two bottles of this beer, one recently acquired, the other from quite some time ago. First off, I’m not much of a fan of Harpoon, they were relatively decent back in the early days, but generally, I find their beers are average at best. But this dark brown beer is quite tasty. With the recently acquired bottle, the dark malts are very caramely, toasty, quite chocolaty, and fairly sweet, with a moderate bitterness rounding things out toward the finish. Perhaps the only wish is that this beer was a bit less sweet so that the true flavor of the malts could bathe my mouth with delight. The nose shows more dominance from chocolaty dark malts. Medium bodied. The beer is dark brown in color and capped by a small light tan head that settles to a ring. And now trying the older bottle, some nuttiness and even more chocolate has developed, to the point where the chocolate is almost the dominant flavor. Also, an obvious smokiness livens up the finish, and the sweetness doesn’t seem as sugary and less prominent. The mouthfeel is richer, more smooth and velvety. This has actually improved with age, and so my numerical ratings are for this older bottle. This just might be Harpoon’s best beer.

UPDATED: JAN 16, 2006 [cask @ Bukowski’s] Pours a murky brown color with the perfect 1-finger head made of tight bubbles. Tastes quite complex.. woody, with strong malts and caramel sweetness. This gives way to a subtle bitterness and eventual alcohol warmth. I’m into this, however this cask-conditioned version differed greatly from the bottle I first had.

Barrel Aged on draft @ NEBF. Pours a bubbly black color with a small, fizzy tanish head. Nose is nice and sweet, hints of vanilla and malt, some dark fruits and a slight doughiness. Taste is vanilla and coconut, some light alcohol warmth and taste there, bourbon, a full finish with some good malt and a touch of the doughiness.

sweet rich aroma - not much body to it but the finish is nice rich and malty. The best of the bunch so fa. Still have the ipa to go

One night, my friends and I made the mistake of going threeway on a Harpoon variety case. It had This concoction, an Ale, an IPA, and a UFO. They all sucked, this one sucking the least. I’ve had worse but this was not worth the price or the anguish of downing 4 of these. The other two guys gave the rest to me and they’re still sitting in my fridge two weekends later, if anyone is interested.