Happy early Thanksgiving! In the spirit of the holiday, I'm reviewing one of the only Thanksgiving themed beers that I have seen. In fact, its the only one I've seen. Harpoon's Grateful Harvest is a Cranberry Ale that raises money for food banks by having $1 of every 6-pack sold go to local foodbanks. At $8.99 for a sixer at the Tribeca Whole Foods, it made the high price somewhat tolerable which was much more than the beer itself. I drank it straight out of the bottle on the train so I don't have much insight on the color, but from reading other reviews I know it pours a reddish brown with a slight head. The smell was very bland - malt, some hops and a slight scent of cranberry that could even be from my imagination. Not much going on. The taste really surprised me, it was very beery and not very cranberry-y. It was actually quite disappointing because of the lack of cranberry flavor and the overpowering metallic taste that it had. I felt like I was drinking a cheap beer out of a can, more than a craft brewed bottle. The aftertaste was slightly better with a tad of hops mixed with some tart from the cranberries. Overall, I was very let down by Harpoon which was shocking because normally they are on top of their game. If not for the strong finish and turkey pictured on the 6-pack box, I'd probably nominate it for worst beer of the year. Outside of the $1 donation to the foodbank per sixer, Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale is not a beer to be thankful for at all.
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