Tree House Brewing (2022)

Disgusting? Genuinely curious what you mean. The beer was bad or mistake in canning made the beer bad or it just tasted bad?

 

Yeah, I can’t say I’ve had a disgusting beer from TH. In fact, I’ve only had once batch, of hundreds, that was way off. It was the batch of VG that they refunded everyone who bought it.

 

Given that these beers aren't cheap, maybe it's too flippant of an attitude, but I've kind of chalked the inconsistency thing up to just part of the deal for all but the small operations. The same conversation is happening in the HF thread right now. I'm sure at some point in the last decade we've had it about Heady, too. If those places can't scale up and throw out 10s on every single batch, I'm inclined to believe it just isn't possible.

I also wonder if there isn't an element of changing tastes to it that gets mistaken for higher standards. I remember having Julius many times where I felt like it was just a kickass citra IPA before I really picked out the TH yeast flavor as the primary reason why it was special. Now I find that if I buy a case of assorted TH, 75% of it is just going to be excellent IPAs and maybe 25% will really lean into the TH-ness of it all. Of course I think those ones are better. But I'm also not sure the ratio was all that different 8 years ago or whenever, I might just be more aware of it.

Fwiw, it's with extremely rare exception that I've encountered anything less than at least good from TH, HF, Alchemist. They're not all 10s, but they're virtually all at least 7s or 8s imo.

 

I don't know what the cause is but I've had cans within a batch where some taste amazing, some have that wretched, undrinkable hop burn, some are somewhere between. I find the worst of that to be disgusting and undrinkable and some of the in between in that category too. I've also had hop particulate that drops out to the bottom of the can and when I unwittingly pour it, it ruins the whole beer. I don't think either of these things are unique to Tree House, but Tree House is also not immune to it.

And it should be said, I have a generally positive view on TH.

 

Well, that batch of VG was very disgusting if you tasted it.

 

I don’t fully agree. It definitely deserves to be refunded, because it wasn’t even close to VG, but I’ve also had worse beer that wasn’t refunded

 

I haven't experience much inconsistency in the quality over the last two years. From 2018-2019 in Charlton, you could tell they were still getting things dialed in.

I will say that I still have a can left from my 4-pack of Curiosity 5 a couple months ago. That has to be one of the worst IPAs they've ever put out. I just can't get myself to open the last can.

 

Curiosity 5 was bad?? I went to TH at the end of June and picked up about 5 cases. Curiosity 5 was the best one of the bunch for me!

 

There was a great post in the Jack's Abby thread last year about their Hoponius Union IPL. They've been making it for like 11, 12 years now, however long JA has existed for. Because of the way people get used to and desensitized to hops, (the brewer called it Lupulin threshold, the decreasing sensitivity to hops over time), they've had to slowly but consistantly keep adding more dry hops just so people wouldn't think they were putting less hops in. As they put it, they now use 4X the dry hops that they used in the original batches, and almost nobody ever noticed. There was no one recipe change, it was just slow, constantly increasing amounts over time.

We can't possibly taste things the same way we did years ago, we're not the same people we were and we've tasted and experienced so much since then. Hell, in one day, you can grab more different beers from TH than you could in an entire year 5-8 years ago.

 

A little off topic…

I plan on stopping by the brewery next Friday around noon or so…. Is it still mobbed most of the time? Will it be too early to have long lines?

Any input would be appreciated

 

Fridays are usually chill compared to saturdays and sundays. You should be fine, minimal lines, plenty of seating, etc

 

I know, weird. I couldn't stand it

 

What was weird to me was that I ordered a case of Green, and all of them had a bit of a metallic taste. The Julius was so much better.

 

It's in vogue to hate on popular stuff, don't forget. I thought C5 was fine and it was actually a nice throwback to reminisce about what the Curiosity series used to be.

Whereas Tree House is more focused on juice and sweetness these days, the older Curiosities featured a lighter, more pithy lemony breadiness with subdued juiciness. That's what they were brewing back then and it's still delicious IMO, even if I prefer some of the juicier stuff. Certainly wouldn't use the word "bad" to describe the latest C5, but I can see why you'd be turned off if you're expecting the envelope-pushing beers of today.

 

I’ve enjoyed the curiosity re makes,

Blueberry brunch is interesting. Another heavy stout, plenty of barrel for a ba blend, coffee upfront, maple and blueberry to follow. Didn’t grab a bottle to go, it’s good, I’m not huge on adjuncts in ba stouts.

 

Is this the right place to ask about Tewksbury? Any ETAs on open? Seems like the “hello” message on the TH site has been up forever…looking forward to something just up Route 38.

 

It’s vague, but does say “Beer-To-Go - Autumn 2022.”

 

From what I can see, they’ve been hiring and training new employees for Tewksbury for a while now. As mentioned, fall 2022 seems to be as specific as anyone can be.

 

For anyone that has been to Sandwich and has made a reservation to get draft pours, can you just buy cans to-go while you're there or do you also need to reserve a time for that as well?

 

Someone who’s been can surly help out. This is the best I can do


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