Only in Boston by Duncan J.D. Smith

122 South Boston & South End 56 For Lovers of Craft Beer MA 02210 (South Boston), the Harpoon Brewery at 306 Northern Avenue T Silver Line 1, 2 to Silver Line Way The massive redevelopment of the South Boston Waterfront has been ongoing since the 1980s. Much of what’s new lies either side of Sea- port Boulevard and Northern Avenue. At the end of Northern Avenue is the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park, which is largely reserved for maritime-related activities (see no. 57). Here amongst seafood ware- houses and other marine enterprises is the Harpoon Brewery, a haven for lovers of craft beer. Harpoon was founded in 1986 by a couple of college friends, who loved beer but found their post-Prohibition drinking choices still sorely limited. Inspired by holidays in Europe, and the rich brewing tradition they found there, they decided to start their own microbrewery. Within a year they had acquired part of a former naval warehouse at 306 Northern Avenue (South Boston), where they brewed the first Harpoon Ale . Fortunately they found a couple of Boston taverns willing to sup- port their venture, including the Sevens Ale House at 77 Charles Street (Beacon Hill). In 1988 they followed up with Harpoon Winter Warmer , the first seasonal craft beer brewed in New England. In 1993, and still tech- nically a struggling company, they introduced Harpoon IPA as a re- freshing summer tipple. The combination of an English-style ale using Northwestern US hops was an immediate success and transformed the company. As a result Harpoon moved into profit for the first time, ex- panded production, and hasn’t looked back since. The Harpoon Brewery today is a bustling concern that welcomes visitors both to its Boston premises and its sister concern in Wind- sor, Vermont. In Boston the brewery is easily identified by its giant fermenting silos, one of which is topped with a huge harpoon. When it first opened, the brewery was not easily accessible to visitors. That changed with the arrival of the T Silver Line in 2004. With visitor inter- est increasing, the brewery upgraded its visitor facilities to include a new entrance, a capacious Beer Hall, and a gift shop. In the Beer Hall visitors can sample all the company’s products on tap, including Harpoon Ale and Harpoon IPA , as well as Harpoon UFO (Un-Filtered Offering), a cloudy, unfiltered wheat beer introduced with great success in 1998. They can also view the goings-on in the brewery