When the Harpoon Brewery announced it was releasing a coffee porter with Dunkin’ (the coffee shop formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts), there were the typical jokes you’d expect, such as how you could drink the coffee in the morning and the beer at night, quite a few ISO posts on the Internet, and a few questions as to why this didn’t happen sooner.
Two New England institutions, with loyal followings and similar company ethos—on paper it makes sense. So, why now?
“We [both] had the right people in the right positions,” says Dan Kenary, the cofounder and CEO of Harpoon. Through mutual acquaintances and connections in both companies, the idea was hatched earlier this year and led to the release of Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter, which will be available in bottles and draft through the rest of this year.