We visited Harpoon Brewery's Windsor Vermont Facility and observed the brew making process at this $5 million dollar facility (built in 1998). This facility was upgraded in the winter of 2005 to increase it's capacity to 55,000 barrels. This facility also features a Brewery Store and the Harpoon Beer Garden, a lunchtime restaurant. Harpoon Brewery was founded in 1986 (Boston, MA) and makes several beers that we were able to taste during our visit. We tasted Harpoon's IPA, UFO Hefeweizen, Brown Session Ale, Harpoon Munich Dark, and 100 Barrel Series Glacier Harvest (which was sold out and only available at the facility). Harpoon is a very good brewer and all the beers we tasted were excellant. I prefered the Brown Session Ale, and the Glacier Harvest. But the one I chose to have with my lunch (The Vermonter - a hot grilled panini sandwich with smoked turkey breast & smoked bacon, Granny Smith Apple, red onion, cabot sharp cheddar & spicy mustard on Homemade Hearty Tuscan White Bread) was the Munich Dark. The Munich Dark is a Munchen Dunkel style which had a rich malt and chocolate taste though slightly bitter. Harpoon has several festivals which would make excellant times to visit either the Windsor Facility or the Boston Facility. We enjoyed our visit, and had a great lunch and a beer.
