Half Truth
Tree House Brewing Company

 

Pours dark black in color with a thick, dark brown head. Nose is chocolate and caramel, very sweet on the nose. Taste is like nose, chocolate then soft caramel. Very thick on the palate, but not in a bad way. Nice softness to this beer!

 

 

 

L - jet black, like paint. Minimal ring of burnt mocha lacing. Even the poor feels thiqq, like I have to drop that shit from a foot up to get any sort of head.

S - crisp steel as the glass approaches my nose, then the baker's chocolate and fudge start to flood in. Rich and sweet. Woodsy bourbon and mild smoked meat. Just an absolute treat to inhale.

T - tobacco, brown sugar, and dark chocolate. Roasty vanilla bean adds slight tang and a foundation of restrained sugariness, making this a decadent treat to behold. Coffee and rolling paper sweetness. Surprisingly faint on the finish. Would've liked to see (or taste) some more wood.

F - she thicc, but mostly up front. Like the Leidenfrost effect for beer. Feels like there's a soapy insulating layer that bursts as the beer goes down faster than the taste fizzles out.

O - vanilla is something TH does so well, from their creamsicle beers to nilla bean dominance in their Quad Shot varietal. So good. A little disappointed in the finish, but the flavors are unique and compelling to make this a devastatingly dangerous 9.2% sipper.

 

 

Poured from a 16oz can into pint glass in April 2025. There was "2025" stamped on the bottom of the can, and I drank this about 1 month after purchasing the bottle at the Tree House brew pub in Tewksbury.

Appearance: As with many imperial stouts, very dark black with a dark borwn, 2-finger head. Head lasted only a minute. It leaves very little lacing on the glass, and ended with no head around the beer. Head bubbles were very fine.

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

Taste: There is a nice balance between the chocolate, bourbon, and maple syrup flavors. There are some coffee, caramel, vanilla, and a little amount of bitter hop flavors to enhance the taste and add some complexity. There is a moderately strong alcohol presence, but it is balanced nicely by the sweetness. The taste is a good mix.

Mouth-feel: Thick like liquid licorice, but with a smooth body.

This is a very good, complex Imperial Stout, and it has a variety of flavors that adds a nice complexity to the beer. It is very smooth and enjoyable to drink. This maple syrup sweetness nicely contrasts the bourbon flavor, and is a nice balance to the alcohol. Another very good beer by Tree House.


See my Founders CBS review for a list of my current favorite stouts.

 

 

 

Courtesy of @roguer from BIF early '25, can simply dated "2025"

Pours jet black with a one inch head that quickly dissipates. Smells of chocolate, some vanilla, and subtle tartness. Taste is decadent with just the right mouthfeel and predominately dark chocolate and barrel on the back-end. For my taste, there is a slight soury aspect to this beer that I can't exactly explain, almost as if there were tart cherries and perhaps a hint of lacto in the finished product but the labeling doesn't suggest such. Either way, intentional or not, it doesn't distract from the beer and it's quite good.

 

Decent head production, but it immediately fizzes and is quickly all but gone.

Nose is shockingly roasty, a throwback to the RIS style. Notes of nuts, bitter cacao, burnt coffee, butterscotch, and red grape.

Rich and thick on the palate, with a lively sting.

Flavor follows the aroma. Whiskey notes are barely present. With many of Tree House's blended BA stouts, where they take a fresh stout and blend it with a portion of BA stout, it seems to present the worst of both worlds: not enough bourbon or whiskey to stand out in the finished product, but just enough to change the flavor profile of what you're drinking. Tasting notes of char, cocoa, espresso, vanilla, red grape, sour cherry, oak. It's definitely growing on me, and it's a very nice beer, but it's not amazing.

Pours opaque, jet black in color with one inch head. Taste is char, chocolate syrup and vanilla. Heavy bodied, low carbonation, bitter. Reminds me of an old school ris from when I first started reviewing beer here. Solid, pleasantly coffee free, not flashy but good.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass 50 degrees roughly. Pours a very attractive near pitch black with a 2 finger dark brown head that leaves little if any lace. 4.75

Aroma is cocoa, toffee, coffee, and vanilla bean. 4.25

Taste follows cocoa, toffee, coffee, and vanilla. 4.25

Mouthfeel is about average, soft gentle carbonation, maybe a tad dry, and at 9.2% it goes down easy enough. 4

Overall this is good. I want that bigger body, with a consistent sharper carbonation, and I feel that would make the flavor shine better. 4.25