I had picked up a number of beers that day, actually, including a bottle of Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 45 Director’s Cut. I figured that the Session 46, just being released, should be available on my next trip and I would get it then. Fair enough, right?

Then a week later, about Mid-July, I saw Session 46 on the tap list at Taco Mac. Aha! I thought. Problem solved. Except for one small problem. They hadn’t run out, and the beer was there when I got there. But when my mug arrived before me, I have to tell you folks: it was love at first sip. Here were my initial impressions:

Harpoon 100 Barrel Kettle Cup Belgian Blonde. Whoa! Spicy with white pepper notes and coriander, hoppy bite in the finish, Belgian funk. I am impressed!

Of course, the beer has neither coriander nor white pepper, those are suggested by the yeast and hops. Anyway, I loved the beer so much I decided that I really should have bought that bottle when I had the chance. So, I made another trip to Total Wine to get some, and I’m typing at you know over a freshly opened 22-ounce bottle.

Apparently, the “Kettle Cup” is a Harpoon-sponsored homebrew competition. Unlike the Samuel Adams Longshot events, however, Kettle Cup is only open to harpoon employees. Here are more details from the Harpoon website:

About 4 years ago a few Harpoon employees thought it would be fun to start up an annual company homebrew competition here at the brewery. Anyone who wanted to brew a beer could, and the winning beer would be determined by popular vote based on a blind sampling at our annual company outing at our brewery in Windsor, VT. The first year there were about a dozen entries from Harpooners in every department. In 2012 there were more than 30. For the last competition it was decided that from here on out, the winning beer each year would be brewed as a 100 Barrel Series offering.

100 Barrel Series Session 46 Hoppy Belgian Style Blond Ale is a very drinkable beer indeed at 6.5% alcohol by volume. It is brewed with the Belgian Bastogne yeast strain and lots of American hops. Harpoon says they use “A generous dose of hops – including Galaxy, Simcoe, Chinook, and an addition of whole Cascade hops”.

My bottle of Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 46 Kettle Cup 2013 Hoppy Belgian Style Blonde pours to a hazy blonde color with a prodigious rocky head formation and a spicy funk and pine nose. The beer has a smooth malty blonde ale palate at first, with fast emerging notes of cotton candy, Belgian funk, coriander, peppery bitter hops, and piney aroma at the last. A long dry bitter finish balances and punctuates with a signature accent.

What a delightfully yeasty-spicy ale with a difference! The hops become more apparent as the beer warms, and their piney notes work amazingly well with the spice and funk. Dangerously drinkable, Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 46 Kettle Cup 2013 Hoppy Belgian Style Blonde is one of the best beers I have had all year. It’s a beer that I hope they brew again and on a regular basis. For now, at $5.99 for a bomber bottle or $6 a pint, you just can’t go wrong with it. And you won’t, unless you miss it.



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