Tree House NEIPA Dominance

Valid, but could say that for a lot of people. Someone was complaining about The Bruery only brewing ~10 beers, and then everything is just a blend/different barrel/ different adjuncts. The overwhelming response was "...and is that a problem?"

I agree though, TH does it to the ^nth degree. People love it and it mitigates their risk though, so I don't see it as a drawback, but is a reason that their ratings across the board are high.

 

This is a great point. In these parts, beers like Jai Alai, Second Fiddle, Two Hearted used to be mythical as they were not distributed here. As soon as that changed, people went nuts for these beers for about a month then moved on. Now they're borderline shelf turds and all of a sudden they're not that great anymore. Newsflash: They're still great.

The same thing would happen to TH. They're smart to keep supplies limited and the hype train moving.

 

Perhaps the equation here is:

Limited distribution (hype) + Extremely motivated consumers + Very fresh beer = 4+ rating.

Cheers!

 

Beer * effort obtaining beer = perceived deliciousness

 

^^This right here. Totally agree.
TH makes good stuff, really good stuff, but I also think they're just way over-hyped. There are others doing it just as well. So many want to be a part of the hype-train, and no one wants to be the one giving an honest rating if the beer is mediocre at best. I was honestly a bit let down when I first had their beers. The hype over the cans just made me think it was going to be so much more. Maybe since I didn't have to wait in line, or trade/pay for the cans I was able to be honest with what I was tasting.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring

 

I can't speak to how Heady has changed over the years, but from my own experience the cans that make their way down to bars here in NYC pour totally different than what I've seen from cans from VT itself. The cans I've had here have all been more of a medium haze, while stuff from VT is full on opaque, so many people with that perception just haven't had the fresh stuff?

 

Your facts are getting in the way of wild conjecturing. Please refrain from using first hand information in your posts

 

This is a great analysis and summary. Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of having beers from Alchemist/Lawson's/Hill Farmstead that all met the hype. I have yet to try a beer from Trillium or Tree House. Living in CA, I'm very familiar with West Coast IPA.

Recently, I have NE IPA style beers from Fieldworks and Cellarmaker. Both were amazing, but they weren't like the Alchemist/Lawson's/Hill Farmstead which I thought were NE style IPAs. Hence, I think your explanation is perfect!

Overtime, my sweet spot would probably match yours, but I probably still trend more towards West Coast. I have a couple of six packs of Waldo's Special Ale and Hoptimum and loving it!

 

I see TreeHouse in a similar vein to (bear with me, I'm from the West Coast) breweries like Cellarmaker or Monkish (I was also going to mention Fieldwork but their continual expansion has impacted their "rarity" factor, perhaps replace them with Moonraker).

Do they make good, arguably world-class beers? Yes.
Are they so good that every single beer they release should dominate the leaderboards? I would say no.

The thing with these breweries is that you combine hype with very limited distribution and you've got people essentially lining up (for hours, even) practically convinced they're going to have a world-class beer. In fact, some of them practically already have a review written out before they've even entered the taproom.

Additionally, I don't think this impacts BeerAdvocate as much, but one thing we need to keep in mind is that there are people who go to places like Tree House solely to trade their beer. So they have a huge incentive in keeping the reviews for Tree House high, because it maintains the high value of the beer they're trading. I've seen it with breweries like Monkish or Cellarmaker, someone leaves a review that isn't 5/5 "best beer ever" and gets completely lambasted by traders because they're worried it's going to devalue the beer they're trading.

 

I get what you are saying and I bet it is certainly true, but there have to been people who have the opposite approach. I for one will rate a beer that acquired a lot of work or cost more critically. I don't like being disappointed, but if a hyped beer isn't 5/5 I don't have any problem admitting it to myself or others and I would never hype up a beer solely to bump its trade value- that will just lead to two disappointed people and beer is supposed to make us happy.

 

There is an awful lot of Narratives in here that are partially or largely bullshit but have just enough truth/familiarity to be compelling.

Truly a masterclass in Internet Message Boarding. Bravo, team!

 

Yup! As I stated in post #103:

"Limited distribution (hype) + Extremely motivated consumers + Very fresh beer = 4+ rating".

Cheers!

 

If I could explain my feelings on tree house, OH, and the likes it would be this. I could never put it this perfect though. Very well written.

 

When I was in Watertown visiting the local beer store had HT for sale by the can for $15. If they weren't distributed by Alchemist could be the difference is age. Years ago it was known that some bars went to Vt to hustle up a dozen cases of HT and return them to NY, Philly, and elsewhere for sale, illegally. Not a clue what’s up with the beers you’ve seen, but age might be a best guess.

 

Dale, the good news is that we now get 'legal' drops of beer from The Alchemist. Lately it seems like every couple of months (or so). The good news is these beers are always fresh. And compared to comparable locally produced beers (e.g., Tired Hands) they are not too expensive.

Cheers!

 

Is there any way to know when it’s dropping?

 

There is likely a 'better' method but the way I figure it out:

I am on a weekly e-mail distribution list of Matt Capone (of Capone's restaurant/bar/beer store) and when I see The Alchemist beers listed that is how I know they are back in town.

Cheers!

 

That doesn’t necessarily make them good. I know the stats say otherwise but they are almost sickeningly sweet sometimes.

 

I agree although I feel like there is much less distinction between NEIPAs when it comes to Trilly or Other Half.