Harp beer is one of the five most popular Irish spirits. It is a pale pilsner type lager. The rights to the brand belong to the British company Diageo. The drink is supplied to 120 countries. In addition to Ireland, it is released in England and Canada.
Historical reference. In Ireland, top-fermented beer has long been brewed – ale and stout. But after the Second World War, a fashion for bottom-fermented continental beer arose in the country – lager, for which Germany was especially famous. Drink imports increased every year, and local brewers did not want to miss out on profits.
To create its own lager (the first in Ireland and the UK), the Guinness company in 1958 entered into a 5-year contract with one of the best German specialists, Dr. Hermann Münder. He worked in the research department of the Institute for Fermentation in Berlin and supervised the rebuilding of war-torn breweries in the Ruhr.
Herr Münder came to Dundalk, where the Guinness-owned Big North Brewery was located, inspected the equipment and was extremely dissatisfied with what he saw. The German brewer disparagingly called the production building “the kitchen of the alchemist”, the quality of the hops also left much to be desired. Only the unusually soft spring water, which tasted like the water of the Pilsen springs, which is used to make the classic Czech pilsner, did not cause any complaints. Before starting to develop a recipe for a new beer, Herr Münder ordered new equipment from Germany, ordered Bavarian yeast and hops from Hallertau. The old brewery has been completely rebuilt.
A new brand of beer needed an original name with an Irish flavor. Thus the name “Harp” was born, which means “harp” in translation. It was she who for centuries was considered the national Irish instrument. Both the emblem of Guinness and the emblem of Ireland flaunt a stylized image of the oldest surviving harp, made in the XNUMXth century in memory of King Brian Boru, who defended the country from the Danes in the XNUMXth century.
Interestingly, the owners of Guinness chose the emblem long before Ireland gained independence. Therefore, those who created the coat of arms of the state were forced to depict a harp with a straight edge on the right, while the Guinness symbol has a straight edge on the left.
Made in 1960, the lager is golden, aromatic, and less bitter than German pilsners. The volume of the first batch of “Harp” was only 70 gallons (about 318 liters). The drink has successfully passed “field tests” in a pub located near the brewery Kennedy’s. A few months later, the first Irish lager was served on board the luxury ocean liner Queen Elisabeth.
Especially for the production of Harp beer in 1961, the Harp Lager Ltd consortium was created, which, in addition to Guinness, included large British brewing companies: Barclay & Simonds, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchells & Butlers, Bass.
In 1964 “Harp” won the first award – the gold medal of the International Beer Research Institute in Brussels. The drink was recognized as one of the most transparent pilsners. Today, the brand has 6 gold medals in the annual Monde Selection product quality assessment competition. The quality of the lager was appreciated on both sides of the ocean: in the USA and Canada, he enjoyed no less success than in Ireland and Britain.
For “Harp” they came up with the motto: “The harp remains ringing.” Famous artists participated in the beer advertising campaigns: Jonathan Ross, Molly Sugden and Lionel Blair.
In 1997, the two divisions of Guinness merged to form Diageo. By that time, Harp had lost a significant part of the market, and rebranding was necessary. In 2005, a new label design was developed for the drink. The famous harp was replaced with a stylized image of sound waves, and the advertising slogan was formulated as “Look at the harp.”
In 2013, Diageo sold the Dundalk plant, moving production of Harp beer to Dublin’s St. James’s Gate Brewery. The drink is made at two more enterprises: the Hydes brewery in Manchester and in Canada, at the Labatt Brewing Company Blue plant. But connoisseurs say that the tastiest Harp is made in Ireland, as there is no such pure spring water anywhere else.
Colum Campbell, brand manager, made a bet on advertising the drink to sports fans. Since 2012, Harp has sponsored the Northern Irish hockey team Belfast Giants, and since 2016, world golf champion Graham McDowell has become a brand ambassador.
Harp Beer Features
Harp is a light golden lager with a delicate malty aroma intertwined with floral and hoppy notes. On the palate, the mild bitterness of hops is balanced by the subtle sweetness of malt.
It is customary to drink this beer chilled to a temperature of +7 ° C, from cone-shaped glasses, slightly narrowed at the top: this way the aroma of the drink is better revealed.
