Trillium (2021)

correct me if I am wrong, but I think PA has some of the most ridiculous beer laws period. The RI laws seem rather dumb as well.

 

Shit DDH Dot?! This could be Apex NEIPA for me. Please share reviews

 

Haven’t had any of the latest releases. I don’t know if I’d love dot ave as I believe it’s a Nelson dominant brew. I grabbed Gift Receipt and DDH Upper Case maybe a week or two ago from Canton. Generally Triples are a bit much for me, this wasn’t necessarily an exception, but I think GR is well done. DDH UC at 9% is also at the upper abv of my range preference but this one really held strong to the Trill style and drinks great. Glad I grabbed 4 4 packs.

 

If you're a fan of Nelson, do yourself a favor and stock up on DDH Dot Ave...what a beer. DDH Uppercase was insanely good too.

For my money, Trillium is by far the best NEIPA producer in the northeast right now. Better than TH, OH, Vitamin Sea, etc.

 

Idk if it's me or their beer, but I don't notice huge flavor differences the hop profiles anymore. Everything tastes similar with the same sweetness and yeast character. I still enjoy it, but I find them all blending together

 

Between all the breweries or between Trillium's beers?

 

Yeah, you can’t be saying stuff like that around here mate.

 

Fair question. I do notice that with a handful of breweries, the house yeast can sometimes be very overpowering, but with many of them (TH, Long Live, Vitamin Sea) I still can enjoy the differences in hop profiles across the different beers (Tree House does have a large percentage of beers that taste similar to me). I guess I just feel like I barely ever notice the differences in Trillium beers these days. Could just be me

 

I definitely agree, for me, most Tree House, Equilibrium, and Vitamin Sea beers taste similar if not the same. The only hops I can usually isolate are Mosaic (blueberries), Nelson (white wine / lemon earthy), and Galaxy (shit / horribleness).

 

For my money they're not. There are better shelf options at this point. Oh yeah and Vitamin Sea is absolutely killing it right now.

 

Everyone has a different opinion and that's okay, but if you haven't had Trillium in a while, I believe if it's worth it to check out. If you don't want to that's fine too, it's a discussion forum.

As for shelf NEIPAs, Equilibrium IPAs are pretty bad across the board (and obscenely overpriced). Finback is pretty good, but can be hit or miss. Not a fan of River Styx. What else has been good lately?

I will say that Vitamin Sea^3 and Second Hand Shanty were both amazing beers, but the rest of VSea singles and doubles I've had over the last couple months have this weird offputting flavor in all of them that I can't put my finger on. Also Channel Charge from Trillium was probably best beer of 2020, while Charge the Channel from VSea was one of the worst beers I had in 2020.

 

Sorry, I’m not interested in throwing darts with my $20 bills anymore.

 

I'll always be open to revisiting Trillium, but as others have said, I have trouble differentiating their hoppy beers. They all have this vegetal flavor to them I can't quite describe, but it completely overpowers the beer.

The DDH beers have that plus a ridiculous amount of hop burn.

But if things have changed recently, they're delivering to NH so I'd be willing to try one of the regular IPA's or Fort Points.

 

Oh nice- I am indeed a fan of Nelson-I am going to put this on the UPS order.

 

Without a doubt, Hill Farmstead is the best in discernible hop profiles. I do feel like the street series of Trill beers are easy to discern as well. I feel like Long Live (which I usually enjoy) has more muddled hop profiles, but I think they also use more hop blends in their beers and have distinct yeast flavor.

 

The hop blends probably have the most to do with it. I haven’t done a side by side of the street series in a long time. I’ve only really had their “hyped” releases lately and those were mostly blends I think. Once I can go and buy single cans again I’ll have to compare a couple of the streets. I will say I’m craving some of their DDH Sleeper St again. That beer was so good

 

This is where I got my hopes up:

And this is where they were completely dashed:

I found that particular beer to be emblematic of everything that drove me away from Trillium’s IPAs. Everyone’s palate really is different, I guess.

 

Lol. That's just the beauty of beer I suppose. I'm telling you my palate is probably destroyed because I love the Trillium hop profile (or burn as some might say), I never think their beers are too green even on day 1.

Before I get myself into too much trouble on here, I had some Hill Farmstead (Double Galaxy, S&S, etc.) about a year a go and while they were the smoothest beers I've ever had by far, I wasn't a big fan because I didn't get the punchy hop flavors which I love. Probably should give you more insight as to what kind of beer I like.

Let me know what you think!

 

Without getting into quality, I've wondered about the quantity of Trillium's output. It seems like they've settled on 3 can releases a week (one typically has not been a hoppy beer), and they've strayed far from the core beers... When was the last time they did FPPA or straight Congress Street? Maybe more recently than I would guess and I just missed them.

I know breweries have had to pivot in pandemic times, but it seems like a brewery of their size should be making way more beer (see Other Half or Tree House)?

Maybe they've been focussed on their "forever home." Some recently posted job listings (executive chef) shed some light on details, which I think are new?

 

I would have agreed with you maybe 4-5 years ago, but they're not even close (in my opinion of course). Hop burn is a regular issue and they frequently undercarb their beers. It doesn't seem like they care either because they have a strong, loyal base that will go nuts for anything they put out.

Long Live in Providence has been my favorite local NEIPA producer the last couple of years. They surpassed Trillium quite a while ago. And agree with others - a lot of shelf options are better.