Red, White & Barrel
Tree House Brewing Company

 

 

 

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells jammy, but not overly sweet or tart, like a lot of fruited stouts can be. There’s some wonderful creamy vanilla and milk chocolate aromas, as well.

Neither berry dominates here, so you don’t get an overt blueberry or strawberry flavor, just equal amount of dark berry goodness. It’s jammy, lightly sweet, but not tart at all. Blueberry can sometimes get overwhelmingly tart and unpleasant in a stout, and Tree House has managed to avoid that. The vanilla wonderfully gets smooth and creamy pastry overtones on top of this. It’s got two years in bourbon barrels, but that character is fairly muted underneath the red, white, and blue additions.

This is medium bodied, not super thick, and not all that boozy. It’s nice and sippable for sure.

This could have been a disaster in a lot of other breweries’ hands, but Tree House has definitely nailed this.

Had on tap at Sandwich. Pours opaque, dark brown in color with minimal head. Taste is big barrel, vanilla, caramelized sugar and raspberry. Heavy bodied, low carbonation, slightly sweet, roasty. A big monster. Good, complex, I like the sugary taste.

Poured from a bottle into pint glass on December 31, 2024. I do not see a bottled on date, but I drank this about 2 months after purchasing the bottle at the Tree House brewpub in Tewsbury.

Appearance: As with many imperial stouts, very dark black with a thin dark brown head. Head was less than 1 finger high, and only lasted a minute. It leaves very little lacing on the glass, and ended with almost no head on the beer. Head bubbles were very fine.

Smell: Strong aroma of bourbon, chocolate, and maple. There is also some caramel, vanilla, and some other sweet aroma like black licorice, but overall the bourbon and maple dominate the others. It is a nice balance of aromas, and good contrast.

Taste: There is a nice balance between the chocolate, bourbon, and sweetness from the maple flavors. There is some smokie roasted flavors, some caramel, coffee flavors, and a little amount of bitter hop flavors. There is a strong alcohol presence, but it is balanced nicely by the sweetness. The taste is an excellent mix.

Mouth-feel: Thick like liquid licorice, but with a smooth body. Not overly smooth like a Milk Stout.

This is a very good, complex Imperial Stout, and it has a variety of flavors that adds a nice complexity to the beer. Although this is a big beer, it is very smooth and enjoyable to drink. This sweetness and spicy flavors nicely contrasts the bourbon flavor, and is a nice balance to the alcohol. Another great stout like their Persevere. This reminds me a lot of Founder's CBS and KBS stouts, which are some of my favorite beers. At $10 for a 12oz bottle though, it is not cheap. Another very good beer by Tree House.

 

Underwhelming for sure.