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Bottle/Tap: Bottle

If you’ve ever been to a good sushi restaurant, you know they give you a few ginger slices to help cleanse your palate between bites.  Imagine that flavor with a little bit of lemon and honey, mix it with hops, barley and water, and you’d have this beer.

I’ve had beers that boast about the flavor being ‘up front’, this one can boast all it wants to.  Right off, you would think you are smelling Canada Dry, and the carbonation almost leads you to believe that this is ginger ale you are drinking. But, no, it is beer.  I enjoy ginger in any form, and now I can add alcoholic beverages to my list.

Harpoon figured out how to harness the essence of the ginger because I swear I could taste a piece of ginger root.  The lemon helps out plenty as far as balancing out the bite of ginger.  Believe it or not, ginger is pretty spicy, and the lemon juice brought that bitter taste down a good deal.  You really don’t notice the honey until the very end.  The sweet of the honey helped to create a smooth finish to this beer, not totally smooth though.  The ginger still managed to burn a spot on the back of my tongue like it always does.

This beer is part of the 100 Barrel Series that Harpoon has been working on and is entry 29 on the list.  I’ve managed to sample a few off of that list, and so far this is my favorite.  I really enjoyed the copper color and the big aroma.  If you a want a beer with bite that will bite you right back, trust me, find as many bottles of this as you can.