Tribus Beer Co.

I can honestly say that in all my years of Connecticuttings, I’ve never gotten on or off the Merritt (Wilbur Cross) at Wheelers Farm Road. Never. No reason for it as nothing in my life was there. But now, something beery this way comes. Saturday fact finding mission. Navigated the residential & commercial scenes back there hugging the Housatonic, and down the dead-end way to play in the shortly after noon…

Big room, and the brewery occupies the far end of it. But we’re heading to the rear of the room where the bar be; wide light wood plank topped, somewhat C shaped with a multi-angled jut out wrapping around a pillar off the bar, making it questionmark-like. Horizontal corrugated base & wood foot box; seating for (like) 20 on backed steel chairs. 2 rows of 12 logo block handled taps on the black horizontal wood fronted cold room wall bar back. Nitro on one end and LUKR on the other. Colorful 18 x 12 vertical placards above the taps in 2 rows listing beer, style, & ABV, and glassware shelved down below.

Concrete floorings & corrugated ceilings on I-beam trim with a pair of giant spinnys, mounted bowl lamps, & caged single filament bulb drops tracing the bar. Muraled up black & white cinder block walls & 3 panel roll up doors forward to the outside biergarten space. Flats mounted on the pillar hugging the bar & between the front roll up doors, and a large projection screen alongside a large lit marquee letter box ‘MILFORD’ with wrapped vinings on the end wall.

Bar counter tableage fronting the brewery, a half dozen+ triangular hightops about the room in 2 rows on shorty backed chairs, and a cushy couch set up over there (me, pointing). Darts in the rear corner past where we are sitting, & table shuffleboard near the door. Merch and cans to go coolered behind the bar.

12 beers on tap (Bier, Pilsner, 5%; Adult Content, Cryo IPA, 6.4%; Nelson Pils, DH Pilsner, 5.2%; Black Light, Black IPA, Little House collab, 6.5%; Daiquiri Shack, Fruited Sour, 6%; Called Quest, Robust Porter, 7%; Goodie Bag, DIPA, 8.2%; Benji, IPA, 6.8%; Black Bier, Black Pilsner, 5%; Made You Look, IPA, 6.9%; Kalmia, Brett Saison, 6.7% Night Night, Imperial Stout, 10.5%), + 3 can pours (Mango Fizz, Light Sour, 4.2%; Shuga Mama, IPA, 6%; Illford, IPA, 6.8%), + guest N/A & Cider.

Shortied and sampled and stole Ben’s beer through half the list. Black Light, Black IPA, because I love on that spot where roast meets hop, and this one was there; Black Bier, Black Pilsner is a pleasant Schwarzbier, easy drinking with a little chocolate on it and light roast; Called Quest, Robust Porter, coffee, dark chocolate, and I’m feeling like it was almost fruity, but lovely; Night Night, Imperial Stout, big roast, smooth as actual fuck, tasty, & very good (at hiding the booze); Kalmia, Brett Saison, very grape musty natural wine like, a Bretty Betty; Bier, Pils, just a real damn nice Pils; Nelson Pils, DH Pilsner, clean, crisp, fruity, another easy drinker. Damn, they make real good dark beers. Tough one, but I’m calling Bier, Black Light, Night Night, & Black Bier for bests of show (though there were exactly zero clunkers).

Got a beers (plural) and went on walkabout as one does. Event space to the rear of the rear down a hallway pasted with ‘The Brewmaster’s Bible’ book pages and some really cool posters (‘The Periodic Table of Hip Hop’, ‘Grand Taxonomy of Rap Names’, and a massive ‘Flavors and Aromas’ & ‘Bitterness’ hop chart). They be boss. Back room holds a ½ dozen tables, a ping pong table, and a pair of video games (NBA Jam & Ms. Pac Man). Bright colorful muraled up floral walls and views of back barreling.

And the aforementioned out front Biergarten space penned; tables, heat lamps, & potted plantings beneath canopies with lighting strung. Some space out past there, too. Fire pit action and some tables umbrella’d up.

Chill scene, although we did roll in at opening. GM Jake was tending (and throws darts hard). Good tunes (Van Morrison, Stephen Stills, Allmans, and other things I can sing to (to everyone’s delight), and some real nice beers. I will add this to my Rte 15 ‘I know a place along the way’ list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rectangular box of a space, all in an out of the way bit industrial kind of area.

Outdoor area seemed pretty pleasant out back and when things get back to normal, expect to find food trucks to provide a bite, while you are enjoying their brews.

They currently are operating an efficient drive thru and pick up some tall cans operation. Worth a visit.

Stopped in on the afternoon of Black Friday. Place was packed with locals. Nice open and industrial space. We were able to get beers right away. Love how they have clear spaces for ordering. Service was friendly and made several good recommendations. I believe they had seven of their beers on tap and a couple of guest beers. Tried all five of their ipas. Each was unique and tasty--a great accomplishment at that. This will be a regular stop whenever I am in the area. Excited to see what this brewery does next if it is this good three months in.

This place was hopping. Large facility opened on the backside of an industrial building, with both inside and outside seating. Large bar on far wall seat about 25, and at least a dozen triangular tables inside and picnic tables outside. Greek food truck - food smelled good. 8 assorted house beers and a few local guest taps. The three I had were excellent - That Drank very interesting. Friendly fast service. Wish I lived closer to this one.

 

 

 

They opened yesterday. There were hundreds of people there. Yet everything ran smoothly. It's all very well thought out and planned. I'll get to the beer . . . but first, the fit and finish. This place is terrific. I can hang here with a bunch of long-bearded dudes or I can come with my wife and kids and my dog too. Even the bathrooms are big, clean and thoughtfully designed. The outside beer garden is a nice addition but the bar and inside counters and tables are equally nice. Everything has been considered and designed to make for a great experience.

The beer: Quality wise it's top notch. I didn't taste anything that made me reconsider the meaning of life and existence like I did the first time I tasted a Treehouse brew. But I did say "Wow! This is really fresh, well made, smooth and polished beer." There was an exception which I'll get to in a minute. I tried all of the beers. The flagship IPA, Fix, was clean and somewhat safe. It didn't take any chances but then again it wasn't "off" in any way, which can happen when you take chances. It gave every impression of being carefully brewed with attention to detail and it was ... delicious. The session (Freshie) held up surprisingly well considering I had it after the single IPA. Both doubles (Blank Check and Flow) were similar but as the server explained, The former is a citra/mosaic blend whereas the latter is a primarily galaxy hopped brew. I couldn't taste the citra or the mosaic in the Blank Check but then again there are only a few beers I've ever thought really featured those hops enough to really taste them: Supernaut (Nebco) or Lizard King (Chicago's Pipeworks) for Mosaic and Fuzzy Baby Ducks for Citra. It was a great double for sure. But the hops didn't scream through. The Flow double IPA was less distinctively hoppy but surprisingly I liked it a little bit more than the Blank Check.

I was a little disappointed in the Pilsner. It was less fresh and crisp tasting than others I like but it was still a good pilsner. I would describe it as a bit "dark" and/or musty compared to other top pilsners. Still good but not one I would choose over the brewer's other offerings.

The porter was a nice surprise because I usually don't like them. I could drink a few glasses of this one, though. But overall, the most surprising beer from this new brewery was the Brett Yeast (slightly) sour Funk Man Funk Man. I expected a Kent Falls-ish wild Brett experience but instead I got a subtle, open, almost oaky-winelike beer that had overtones like the smell of fresh wet leaves. It was extremely different than any Brett I've had and it was geniusly executed.

This brewery is in a tier above most of the other breweries that have been opening up in Connecticut over the last two years. They are instantly - as of their first opening day - on par with the top few. Comparisons to Fox Farms, NebCo, or Counterweight are immediately apparent. To open so strong . . . I can only imagine what they are going to be brewing six months from now.