Patience is a virtue, but not one Harpoon Brewery possesses. Why wait to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th when you can celebrate it now? Based on the hordes of party-goers that descended on the Seaport last Friday and Saturday, it looks like Boston agrees: when it comes to celebrating the end of winter, the sooner the better.  

Now in its 20th year, Harpoon’s St. Patty’s Day Festival has clearly not lost any steam. With hundreds of kegs tapped, roughly 10,000 attendees, live bands ranging from U2 covers to Irish Pub Songs and more corned beef and cabbage than you can shake a chicken hat at, there’s never been a better time to be a part of the craft beer scene.  

I took a couple minutes to chat (okay, more like shriek over the bagpipes) with Harpoon’s Director of Communications Liz Melby, who shared the history of how the first festival came to pass. When craft beer was in its infancy, people weren’t quite sure how to react to small batches and high ABVs. Harpoon was struggling to stay afloat, and as a last hurrah, they decided to throw an Octoberfest. 

The event generated so much interest from the local beer community that Harpoon was able to turn things around – and the rest is history. Now they’ve got Boston’s first Bavarian-style beer hall, their first-ever stout on Nitro, and 125,000 Friends of Harpoon – a membership program they created to reward loyal fans. Liz says Harpoon is all about building a relationship between the brewery and the people who support it. 

You could definitely feel the love last weekend. At one point on Saturday, the event hit capacity and it was one attendee out, one attendee in. The debut of Boston Irish Stout sold out, and #Harpoonstpats tweets were flying. Folks lined up to take photo booth pictures, sample new pints, and take a brewery tour. And oh, the dancing – there’s nothing quite like watching beefy men twirl around in skirts. 

In case you missed the Irish extravaganza, there are still some opportunities for celebration. HarpoonFest happens in May, and Octoberfest is closer than it appears. In the meantime, the brewery welcomes visitors for weekday tastings and weekend tours, so there’s never a bad time to do a little relationship building.