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Harp beer mat

Harp Lager (Harp Irish Lager since 1997) is a pale lager brand owned by Diageo. It is brewed in the Dundalk brewery in the Republic of Ireland, the Labatt's brewery in Canada and the Hydes' brewery in the United Kingdom. In Australia distribution is handled by Carlton & United Breweries.

Harp Lager was first produced in 1960 in the Dundalk Brewery as a bottled beer, in response to the trend among drinkers in Britain and Ireland toward continental lager. By 1961 it was brewed under an alliance of the brewing companies, Courage, Barclay & Simonds, Scottish & Newcastle, Bass, Mitchells, & Butlers and Guinness. These companies grouped together under the name of the Harp Lager Ltd. consortium. By 1964 it was being sold on draught and quickly lead its category in sales. Members of the Harp consortium changed over the years, with Courage and Scottish & Newcastle leaving in 1979 but becoming franchisees.

Dr. Herman Muendar, a distinguished German "Braumeister" was chosen to manage the new venture. He was eminently suited to the task, having gained considerable experience supervising and directing the re-building of war damaged breweries in the Ruhr area of Germany. And so Harp Lager was born, with the Brian Boru Harp as it emblem.

In 2005 Harp saw a makeover, Diageo Ireland separated the brand from Guinness and gave it a new look, with new advertisements appearing on TV. Ironically there is no longer an actual Harp on the design of the new tins and bottles as that logo belongs to Guinness. US and Canadian sold bottles still bear the Harp logo (2007).

Harp Export Lager is a 5% abv pale lager.

Over the years Harp has been rumored to contain an unhealthy number of chemicals. Whether true or not this led to market researchers asking the public 'does this make you think Harp is full of chemicals' when collecting opinions on the new logo in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

• Diageo