Octoberfest - Harpoon (2019)
Note, was written in August 2024 to recreate a post which was lost, and we want to reference it in our upcoming celebratory post in September of 2024. Although our Oktoberfest experiences only go back a few years, so much of the true experience is still going to be lost. Old computer(s), Google Drive, Facebook, etc. were all searched for context, but not much was able to be recovered. We will try to add some details, but as our memories have faded, this may well be all that we have left of that moment in time.
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See [or click on] the posts, Boston Duck Boats, I and Boston: October, 4, 2019.
12:00 PM - 4:15 PM, Saturday, 5 October 2019
Nicole and I woke up in-town and only had a 15-miute walk along the Pappas Way to get to Harpoon Brewery. It would be nice later on to be back there safely; this was not a day to be driving!
I hate that Harpoon spells Oktoberfest, “Octoberfest.” I use the traditional spelling in this script and in all of my collages. Anyway, I had yet to purchase my lederhosen so I was rocking a ‘Deutschland’ shirt, and it was more effort than most there. Nicole, however, was looking fly in her ‘Purrost’ kitty-cat-with-Germany-flag-colored-sunglasses shirt, a play on ‘purr’ and ‘prost,’ the German expression of cheers.
Harpoon Octoberfest Collage
This was technically my second Oktoberfest at Harpoon, but I didn’t know it at the time. It turns out that my friend, JumboC, took a few of us with comped tickets he, as always, could just manage to get. My first time was in the mid-to-late ‘90s and I only remember the keg bowling and that I brought an analog hand-held television so that I could watch the New England Patriots play… and they were not even that good at the time!
The Harpoon Brewery always puts on a good time at their events. We had been to quite a few St. Patricks’ Festavals over the years as well. We knew to get there early, because it was destined to be packed, and it was as the progression of pictures shows. The first picture in the gallery below is of the band warming-up while there is no one else in sight, but here wouldn’t be much elbow room for long. There was even a long waiting line to enter as were were leaving! We got all of it. We moved between and listened to multiple bands playing simultaneously on three stages. We took a behind the scenes brewery tour because they make great beer, and the samples were a bonus treat.
I couldn’t find a YouTube video for the day we were there, which surprised me… have my research skills fallen off? Anyway, Harpoon put out a promotional short video the year before, and it is the vibe.
Bonus: The oyster vendor, SeaWitch Inc., was taking a picture of me in my direction while I was taking a picture of them, and they put it on their Facebook page which I’ve embedded here. Five years on and it has only one like! [now two] Still, that’s more than I’ve seen on any of my posts in a while.
Boston Fisheries Foundation Oyster Bar
Driving times are approximate:
Boston = 0 h, 10 m.
Tolland = 1 h, 15 m.
Hartford = 1 h, 30 m.
New London = 1 h, 45 m.
Torrington = 2 h, 15 m.
New Haven = 2 h, 15 m.
NYC = 4 h, 0 m.
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