Behind the Brew: Harpoon Brewery Taproom and Beer Garden
My partner currently lives up in New Hampshire, so when I found out that Harpoon Brewery had a location in Windsor, VT, I knew it was a spot I had to visit! A quintessential New England brewery, Harpoon’s Windsor taproom is the perfect spot to go eat some great food, play some cornhole, sit by an outdoor fire pit, and of course, drink some awesome beer. All while being surrounded my mountains. That’s a win in my book!
I had the opportunity to interview Rachel Martel, a server at Harpoon, for this week’s “Behind the Brew!” Rachel’s infectious smile and positive attitude made the interview effortless! Check out what she had to share with me below!
Tell me about your journey in the beer industry. What attracted you to this profession?
Rachel: “So I finished my junior year of college and went abroad. When I had come back to the States, I was very poor and needed a summer job. My friend's mom used to work at Harpoon as a server, and she was kind of like, “Oh, I wonder if Harpoon is hiring.” She ended up emailing her old boss, and they actually were hiring for the summer. I went in and interviewed, and got a position as the retail/register person!
It trickled from there and I ended up coming back every summer. I graduated in 2018 and tried to leave Harpoon a couple of times to go serve at a different restaurant [I lived further away], but I always found myself back here and eventually became a server. I would do events for Harpoon too. For example, we would do little wedding parties and stuff, pre-COVID. And then I actually just did a stint up in the quality lab. The microbiologist was pregnant, so she had her maternity leave. I filled in there for her, since I have a biology major from school. So that was a really cool twist of events that I didn't expect from the brewery. I mean, I'd done a bunch of odd jobs around here, but that was a cool solidifying factor for me. And so, I'm still here and who really knows what’s going to happen, but I love working at Harpoon.”
Tell me a little bit about the brewery you work at. What’s your favorite part? What’s your least favorite part? What do you look forward to?
Rachel Martel
Rachel: “Harpoon was established in 1986 by three guys who I think were friends in college and wanted to drink good beer and share it with their friends and family. So, they started brewing. They acquired this location in Vermont in 2000 (we've just celebrated 20 years last year!) They basically just wanted to share good times with good people.
We are an employee owned company, which is really cool. We have our employee stock ownership program, where every full-timer is given stock in the company without having to invest their own money. That’s a super cool part of Harpoon and what I think separates us from other places. It’s awesome, because we care about our jobs and we care about the work we do and we're invested—literally and figuratively—in this company. It creates a very big community feeling here. I've experienced that over the years and for me, it's very unique compared to other places for sure.
I would say my favorite part of working at Harpoon is getting to give people an experience. It took me a while to be comfortable speaking about beer. It's a whole language! So, it's taken me a minute to get here, but it's so cool to welcome people in that know nothing about beer or they just know a little bit, or they don't know anything about the company. That makes it really fun, more so in pre-COVID times, because you could actually engage more with people about these things. But yeah— it's really rewarding to be able to give an experience to people. That's another thing that's unique about Harpoon and the people I work with. I mean, we're a restaurant too and yeah, I want to make tips, I want to make money... that's a big reason why I'm here. But more importantly, there's a reason I've STAYED here. I think it's that camaraderie between all of our employees, whether they're brewers or front of house staff, that creates a very unique feeling that’s hard to explain. When you have everyone that's willing to work towards the same goal of giving the customer a good experience that makes them want to come back, buy our beer, or share it with their friends— it makes you feel like you’re a part of something bigger.
I kind of didn't realize this until recently. And now I wonder, wow— if I was to look at other jobs would they have that similar feeling of camaraderie where everybody's in for that same goal? Or is it more cutthroat? So, that's probably my favorite part. Again, it’s hard to describe; it's more of a feeling than it is a tangible thing.”
What is a sort of surprise/unexpected fact that people wouldn’t know about your profession?
Rachel: “In general I'm basically a waitress, so that is pretty straightforward in itself. More on the broad scale of things, especially after I did a stint in the lab, I realized that there is so much work that goes into one pint or one 12-pack of beer. It blows my mind. At the Harpoon lab, we test all the beer from the beginning to the end, multiple times, right down to giving it to a customer: making sure it's poured properly, it's the right temperature, and it's being stored correctly, for example.
I remember a time when I was in the grocery store with my mom this past winter and I was looking at the Harpoon bottles that come from here. I just stared at it, and she asked me, “what are you doing?” I turned to her and said, “There so much effort that goes into those beers.” It just kind of like I had this weird epiphany moment where I was thought about how there was so much work, labor, and love that goes into making those beers. Like there it [the beer] is from start to finish; it was kind of just full circle moment for me. I think the average consumer might not realize that.
Obviously, it comes down to other things like quality, what people want to drink, trends and what's popular and stuff, but there's a lot of hard work that goes into that pint of beer that you're drinking. It's really cool to think about— for me at least— having experienced multiple levels of this brewery.”
How has COVID affected your experience working in the industry?
Rachel: “First of all, I was laid off from mid-March until after Memorial Day which was obviously the number one impact for me and a lot of other people.
I think COVID really tested our flexibility and patience a lot. Obviously, every day is a new day and it's a chance to begin again, but every single day we came in here, it was a different set of rules. There were so many things changing constantly, and I wasn't even here for three months since I got laid off. There was a solid core of eight people that were full-timers that kept this place running. We had the shop, which is kind of why we were able to stay open because we were selling alcohol to-go. Then we had the restaurant portion and we did take out for that.
People were really good during this time though; the community was so positive and helpful! I mean, I even came here and ate takeout a few times. Staff at Harpoon did so much work and put in so much effort just to keep this place afloat because our future was so uncertain… so many companies closed during this pandemic. I think it was just really hard to learn how to pivot given the uncharted territory, and it was a lot of mental and emotional work for everyone involved
Even after we came back, we ended up being really busy for the summer and fall, which was not expected . With all the restrictions, we weren’t even at full capacity yet. We had so many people wanting to be here, which was great. I had a lot of people come up to us or I'd be serving a table and they would be like, “just so you know, this is the only restaurant we go to because we feel comfortable and safe here” and it blew my mind. I thought it was so cool that people were willing to come out here and that people felt safe and comfortable to come here. Even if they're not local, which is another scary thing. At times I was like “please don't come from out of state during the middle COVID.” Yet it was really rewarding to literally be busting your butt all day and then have people just be like, “we only come here because we feel comfortable around you guys. We know we're going to get good service.” That was probably the most rewarding thing that came out of 2020, despite all of the literal bloodshed, tears, and sweat. It was kind of like a silver lining this year despite the circumstances. So that was really, really cool to witness.”
2020 has proven to be an incredibly challenging year for the beer industry. How do you stay motivated through these hardships?
Rachel: “I definitely was motivated financially to work. I needed to. I was paying off school loans and other personal things, but I'm going to jump back to the camaraderie part. The first weekend I came back was right after Memorial Day and we had all this space set up. It was a little different, but yeah, we didn't know what to expect, so we'd have a couple servers on and then we would just get so busy that we just couldn't keep up with it. It was just crazy, and everything was changing, and you had to keep everybody in the rules, but also keep yourself safe. I think it was cool to have every one of my coworkers just feel so supportive throughout this chaotic time. We were all going through our own personal struggles, let alone the world's struggles. Yet, we would all show up and support each other if we needed to vent or literally cry about anything. Everybody was there to help each other. There was a point when we even split tips, which we don’t normally do here. There would be a few of us working and we all felt so good working with each other that we were like, “we're a team, whatever we make today, we split evenly because we're a team and we’re in this together.” I've never experienced that before.
When you work with people that you really care about, it is so motivating. I mean, the company obviously is helpful in keeping that camaraderie together but working with my coworkers who became my friends through work was huge. That was one of the big things that motivated me. We have had a few people move on and do different things which is expected, because you go through a crazy time together and it causes you to change your outlook on things. It's crazy. But definitely the friendships I've made with people being my coworkers got me through 2020.”
What are the best things local customers can do to support your business?
Rachel: “Obviously one is buying our product, but I think the other thing is sharing it with people. Just kind of by word of mouth, even. We have a lot of people who just give away Harpoon, for example I had a guy in here the other day and he’s kind of a local guy, and he was like, “I literally will buy 12 cases of beer every now and then, and I'll just give them to my clients or give them to people.” I thought: whoa, how people are so good?! Some people just have hearts of gold and it literally blew my mind. So, a lot of support can just be sharing. A lot of the times it's through an experience they had here or at the Boston location.
In Boston, there’s more focus with people coming in and out, but up here in Vermont we get a lot of travelers visiting us going up 91, since we’re right off the interstate. People will stumble upon us and they're like, “Oh my God, I had no idea a brewery was here!” And then they learn more about it and come back. We have a lot of people who are out-of-staters, but they’ll still come back every few months or every summer multiple times.
We have a lot of very dedicated customers that like this place, with some of them having been here since the beginning and that's really cool. They're definitely an integral part of us sharing our products with people and getting word out. We collabed with people like Dunkin Donuts. We collabed with Whistle Pig to do a beer. I mean, as you do stuff like that with bigger companies as well there's more of a reach.
Another great collab was with Pink Boots society. I actually just became a member this year. It’s for women in brewing and it's in all aspects of brewing. I think as long as you make a quarter of your income through the beer industry you can apply to be part of it. Every year you can vote on which beer you want to do, and it’s brewed by women. It's really cool and it's very empowering.”
What is your favorite beer?
Rachel: “Everyone’s going to kill me that works here, but I love the UFO Maine Blueberry. Oh my God, I can drink it all day. It's so good. Some of the brewers laugh at me, because they're all IPA people, but oh man is that beer good! We have a lot of beers though, I think we have like 20-22 beers on tap, but the blueberry has been my personal favorite throughout this last year.
My first favorite beer that I ever had? It was a UFO beer and I didn't realize that it was Harpoon until I worked here! It was the Big Squeeze Shandy. Then I had the Camp Wannamango: it's a pale ale with a hint of mango.
I used to hate beer, fun fact. I was a late bloomer with drinking. Back in college, I was just hitting wine, sweeter stuff like literal hard alcohol. Then I worked here. I turned 21 after the first summer I worked , and I remember I just went down the tap line and I tried a little sample of each beer just because I could finally drink. When you try something, you can explain it to people and get a feel for what you're selling too. It's so hard to describe something to someone when you've never even tried it yourself.
Also: there's a “secret” beer that people can order at Harpoon. It's not “secret” really, but it's not on the menu. It's called a Fruit Salad and you can do it multiple ways. It's usually a mix of some UFO beers and a cider. The original was UFO white, UFO raspberry, and the cider. I do peach, blueberry, cider, or raspberry, blueberry, cider— pretty much any fruity concoction. So, if you go and you ask for a Fruit Salad, that's what you’ll get. Depends on who makes it and what’s on tap, but it's a fun drink and it's summery. It's yummy.”
What's a little known fact about beer that many people don't know?
Rachel: “This might be kind of obvious, but I didn't realize that what goes into like making beer is quite simple. It's water, hops, yeast, and malt or barley. And those are the four main ingredients. That kind of blew my mind because it seems more complex, but I also didn't really realize how many strains of yeast there are (this gets a little, science-y sorry).
It’s Insane. You can add hops and you can just combine the weirdest stuff. And there's just so many strains of yeast, it’s overwhelming to think about. For example, there’s a certain type of yeast for an ale, there's a certain type for like IPAs and stuff where you can get hazy beers from brewing in a certain way. It's really cool that you can manipulate beer to whatever you want. I mean, even for cider, there's a different way to make it.
This was a fun fact, but it doesn't really pertain anymore. There was a time when we were doing bottling at both Windsor, VT and Boston. If you looked at the neck of the bottle, the expiration date or the package date, if it was in all capital letters, you could tell that it was It was bottled in Vermont. And if it was like a mix of lowercase and uppercase, it was done in Boston!
We don't really do a lot more bottles these days because people want cans, but when I was in college, I would go to the store and be with friends and be like, “see that Harpoon? It was bottled in Boston.” My friends were always so curious about how I was able to tell, but I didn’t reveal the secret trick! That was my favorite fun fact to tell people, but it doesn't really pertain anymore sadly. However, even from the beginning, most of the bottling comes from Vermont, and then the canning and tagging is usually done in Boston.”
Is there anything coming in Harpoon’s near or long-term future that customers can look forward to?
Rachel: “I think as far as Vermont is concerned-- we're going to start doing a lot more with our outdoor space. We have a lot of engaging and fun activities in the summertime to get people to come here, like having a pretty competitive cornhole situation outside! It's cool to have fun stuff back so people can come drink and enjoy the space to its fullest again. I think that's one thing to look forward. Another would be to then just keep an eye out for any collabs we might do. We have a pretty fun Instagram too. Check it out!
I forgot to mention this—we have multiple brands too! Harpoon is like a big umbrella. We have Harpoon UFO, which is the unfiltered offering: those are all wheat beers (think like a hefeweizen).
Then we have Arctic chill, which is our hard seltzer. We collabed with Polar Seltzer on that. They're also a Massachusetts-based company. We create the alcohol part and they combine it with their seltzer. They are SO good.
Moving on, we have Clown Shoes, which was like a nomad brewery. They would go on contract brewing at different places. We bought them a couple of years ago and they do bigger IPA’s, barrel aged stuff, heavier stouts, etc.
Next, we have City Roots, which is our cider. That's more of like a Boston theme.
Finally, we have Catamount. This building [the Harpoon VT location] was formerly Catamount brewery. We purchased this location from them in 2000, and we're bringing the brand back and bringing in different stuff.
So yeah, there's lots to look forward to. We're always evolving and changing recipes and bringing new fun beers into the world. Keep an eye out for that, especially as summer comes.”
Anything else you’d like to add?
Rachel: “Give beer a try! We get a lot of people that really prefer light beer, or they don't drink beer at all. They're kind of hesitant to try. I would say especially at a craft brewery, just be willing and open to trying different and new things, Even with concocting your own flavors, like the Fruit Salad. It might surprise you!
Working in this industry is really cool and unique. You can tell people about beer all the time. So yeah, it's kind of like a small yay for beer! Finally, I would say be engaged and be willing to support local businesses as well!”
Huge thank you to Rachel for being a part of this series! I hope you come visit Boston soon! :)