Barrel One Collective-owned Harpoon Brewery is expanding to New Hampshire, opening an “experimental brewery, restaurant and taproom” in the Granite State later this month, the Massachusetts-based craft brewery announced this week.
Harpoon at Queen City Center will open June 15 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The facility will mark Harpoon’s fifth location, joining its taprooms in Boston and Windsor, Vermont, as well as its summer pop-up in Boston Common and space at Boston’s Logan Airport.
“Harpoon is a Boston brand that travels well across New England,” Barrel One VP of marketing Rob Day told Brewbound. “We’re coming up on 40 years in Boston, 25 years in Windsor, Vermont, and putting new roots down in Manchester, New Hampshire, continuing to reinforce our dedication to New England.”
The move gives Harpoon a foothold in its second largest market by volume, after Massachusetts, Day told Brewbound.
“The people of New Hampshire love Harpoon, and we’re proud to bring the experience closer to home and support a growing city,” he said.
Queen City Center is a new entertainment hub in Manchester. The space also houses City Club Golf, Barre Life, Clyde’s Cupcakes, record label Wicked Joyful, Big Brick Productions and more.
Harpoon’s domain is a 9,216 sq. ft. space, which includes a 215-person-capacity indoor restaurant and taproom, an 82-person-capacity outdoor beer garden, a 3.5-barrel brewery with 20 tap lines, and a private events space. The location will also serve cocktails and wine, along with a full food menu, alongside Harpoon’s beer offerings.
The expansion comes six months after Harpoon’s parent company Mass. Bay Brewing announced it would merge with Smuttynose’s parent company, FinestKind Brewing, forming Barrel One Collective. The new entity’s portfolio also includes Wachusett Brewing and Five Boroughs Brewing (originally under FinestKind) and Long Trail, Otter Creek, The Shed, Clown Shoes, Catamount Brewing (originally under Mass. Bay).
Harpoon at Queen City Center will be the company’s second hospitality location in New Hampshire, in addition to Smuttynose’s brewpub about 37 miles east in Hampton.
With Harpoon’s new location, the Barrel One family will have 10 own-premise locations: Harpoon’s aforementioned taprooms and beer gardens, Smuttynose, Long Trail Brewery Pub and Restaurant (Bridgewater Corners, Vermont), Five Boroughs Taproom (Brooklyn, New York), and two Wachusett Brew Yards (Westminster and Worcester, Massachusetts).
Expect more brewpubs, taprooms and experiential marketing from Barrel One, Day said.
“We’re looking at some very cool opportunities,” he said. “We don’t have anything concrete today, but we are not done growing our hospitality business.”
Barrel One was the 14th largest regional craft brewery in 2024, producing a combined 125,400 barrels of beer, according to the Brewers Association (BA). The company was also the eighth largest brewing company in the Northeast.
Year-to-date (YTD) through May 16, Barrel One’s dollar sales (-17.8%) and volume (-16.2%) are both down double-digits in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels, according to data shared by 3 Tier Beverages. Harpoon’s declines are slightly less steep, with dollar sales down 9.8% and volume down 10.7% YTD.
New Hampshire had 102 craft breweries in operation in 2024, ranking eighth in breweries per capita (9.3 per 100,000 legal-drinking-age adults), according to the BA.