The Spring Beer Tourey: # 4 Harpoon Red vs # 5 RH Mudslinger

      The # 4 seed is Harpoon Celtic Ale, just a classic red.  The # 5 seed is Red Hook Mudslinger.  I get why there would be a lot of mud in Spring, but this is the only brown ale this spring, odd.  Harpoon is orange with nice caramel and a little citrus on the nose.  Mud is light brown with caramel, mocha and floral notes.  Celtic is a standard red with toasted caramel and citrus herb bite.  It's not bad, but not exciting.  Mud is kind of odd, it's a weak brown ale red ale cross, I think.  Caramel, mocha and herb.  I'll keep on and see were it goes.  The Harpoon is decent, but the mud seems a little more interesting.  Neither of these beers inspire me.  I guess Mudslinger is a bit better, but they can both go away as far as I'm concerned.  The Mud moves on.

Winter Beers: Harpoon Winter Warmer

      I love me some Winter beers.  They are usually big on the flavors and the alcohol.  There also seem to be a hell of a lot of them.  Not everyone does a Spring or Fall beer, but everyone does a Winter\ Christmas beer.  First up is Harpoon Winter Warmer.  It pours out a light brown with a spicy mocha nose.  This is why I like Winter beers.  It's all mocha, caramel, cinnamon, clove and a touch of yeast.  It's also got a nice full body.  At first I found the aftertaste a bit off-putting, but I'm warming up to it.  A great start to the Winter beers, Harpoon has a winner here.  Good character, flavor and body, Winter Warmer is an apt description.

#4 Harpoon Celtic Ale vs #5 Sam Adam's Irish Red

In honor of Saint Patrick's day we start the Spring beer tourney with a showdown between two Irish Spring beers. That might be worst beer idea I can think of, an "Irish Spring" beer. The #4 seed in the Mid-East region, Harpoon Celtic Ale, versus the #5 seed Sam Adam's Irish Red. Harpoon Celtic Ale is an Irish red Ale from Boston, they have a brewery in Vermont as well. For each of these match-ups I will be using a different palate cleanser after trying each beer. This time the palate cleanser is a baked ham.
Both of these pour out a nice redish amber, with the Sam being noticeably darker. Harpoon has a nice mild hop and caramelized malts. Sam has more hop, but a scant nose in general. The Harpoon has very little hop up front, but it appears after some nice caramel tones and plays on the finish. Sam Adam's comes out much the same, but with slightly more malts, and more hop bitterness on the finish. Have some ham. The Sam's clearer got more body and a bit more flavor. On the other hand, the harpoon is very smooth and balanced. Let's have some more ham, this is a close one. Next I'm going from one to the other without any ham in between. I like both these beers, but the flavors in the Sam Adam's overwhelms the Harpoon head to head. It was close for a while, but Sam Adam's Irish Red pulls out the victory in a slight upset.