Harpoon Brewery Grateful Harvest Ale gives back to fight hunger

The Harpoon Brewer is proud to bring back Grateful Harvest Ale, a New England cranberry ale brewed in the Thanksgiving spirit of giving back to the community. For every six-pack of Grateful Ale sold, the Harpoon Brewery will make a $1 donation to the local food bank in the area in which the beer was purchased.

The idea for Harpoon Grateful Harvest Ale was born out of the relationships the brewery has cultivated with New England food banks throughout the years. This beer will help raise desperately needed funds for the fight against hunger, with $1 from every six-pack sold going to the local food bank in the area in which it was purchased. To further the cause, Harpoon Grateful Harvest Ale will be available on tap at the brewery’s Boston and Windsor, Vt., facilities. For every pint of Grateful Harvest sold at the breweries, Harpoon will make a $1 donation to their local food bank. In addition, a special pumpkin spice pretzel will be sold at the Harpoon Beer Hall in Boston, with $1 for each pretzel sold going to the local food bank.

In addition to beer sales, on Nov. 10, Harpoon will host the Harpoon Helps Grateful Harvest Dinner at their beer hall in Boston. It will be a twist on the traditional Thanksgiving meal, with recipes for each dish developed by Harpoon employees; 100 percent of ticket sales will be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank. Since the beer was first released in 2010, Harpoon has donated more than $84,000 to local food banks from the sales of Grateful Harvest alone.

Harpoon was founded on two principles: to make great beer and to be good neighbors within their community. Since the brewery bottled its first beer in 1986, Harpoon has endeavored to make meaningful contributions to causes that are important to it and its customers. What started as beer donations here and there, hosting fundraisers for friends from time to time, and producing small fundraisers, has developed into one of the brewery’s most cherished programs: Harpoon Helps. So far in 2013 alone, the Harpoon Helps program has raised more than $445,000 for local charities, donated more than 50,000 pints toward local charity events with approximately 300 local non-profits supported, and has performed thousands of volunteer hours at local organizations.

Harpoon Grateful Harvest Ale is a beer brewed with Thanksgiving celebrations in mind. Freshly harvested cranberries, donated by local cranberry farm A.D. Makepeace, lend a subtle tartness to the beer. The cranberry flavor complements the malty character derived by the combination of Munich and Vienna malts. Additions of CaraMunich and Dehusked Carafa III malts enhances the beer’s reddish hue and adds a touch of sweetness, while Northern Brewer bittering hops complement the slight cranberry tartness. A traditional top fermenting strain of ale yeast was used to showcase the malt profile and accent the fresh cranberry aroma. The result is a medium-bodied, malty and mildly sweet amber ale with a bready aroma and a subtle cranberry flavor.