Tree House (2025)

With the kids argument (I don't have any, so if I'm out of my element here, Donny, let me know), I often wonder about how much brewery owners -- most of whom I assume are not there on a crowded summer Saturday when kids would be present -- care. It's the staff & patrons that would be impacted.

However, without those families with children, wouldn't a breweries bottom line suffer? Those families with children wouldn't come and spend their $100 or so on a couple pours and some beers to go. Multiply that number by however many families do come. That's a lot of dollars left on the table if they're not allowed to bring kids. They'll find somewhere else to go.

Seems like it could be out of sight, out of mind for the brewery owners. All they're seeing is how well they did on a weekend. They're not seeing the game of coaster frisbee being played over patrons heads.

In the end, I try to just be as non-judgmental as I can. I can't control what people do. I can't control how they spend their money or what they spend it on or how they vote or who they bring with them to the brewery I may be at (though I think we're all allowed to be a little judgmental about the consumption of double IPAs then driving home, but you don't have to have kids for that judgement to be made). We all have different reasons for choosing one brewery over another. If it's kids for you, that's a fair point. If it's music selection, it's the same thing.

 

There’s no can line anymore. Saturday might have 15-20 people at peak, but in the last 2 years I’ve been able to walk up with no one around

 

6.8-8.2% is the goldie locks zone

 

I'll weigh in on this I guess too. As a new parent, I've brought my kid to a couple of breweries, and the plan my wife and I have is that if he starts freaking out and crying then we'll get up, my wife will bring him to the car, I'll pay the tab and we'll head home.

It's the same thing when we bring him to a restaurant. We're not going anywhere high end by any means, but if he starts getting uncontrollably loud then one of us will take him outside to comfort him, the other will pay the bill and ask for our food to go. We've been lucky so far and haven't had to do that, but I'm just waiting for the day.

I don't know why a plan like this seems so difficult for people to deal with. I get that it's probably a bit harder when your kids are actually mobile, but I think that plan will continue on for my wife and I. If he's being unruly / rude / loud, we'll get up, pay our bill and head out.

 

Yup. My son stopped there at about 5:00 this past Saturday, texted me that he was in the lot, I ordered my beer online, and he walked in and they handed it to him with no wait. Worked out far better than I anticipated.

 

In my extremely biased opinion, the issue is less with the children and more with the parents.

If you are looking for a place to drink with your friends while your kids blow off some unsupervised steam, probably don't go to a brewery/bar/restaurant. And for every dozen parents that bring cards or coloring stuff or books to entertain their kids for a couple of hours, there's at least one whose kid is wandering onto the 9th green in Tewksbury.

I think family outings are good! A person's life should not end because they have children, but being a parent comes with the responsibility of actually parenting your kid. It's often thankless, but it's part of the deal.

 

1000% this. I blame the parents, not the kids. Every. Freakin. Time.

@DillDoe2002 I think most breweries generally welcome the family dynamic for some of the reasons you listed. Until it gets to the point where it's negatively impacting (pick one or more): other patrons, the staff, the facility, the well-being of the kids themselves (9th hole at Treehouse Tewksbury is a great one), etc.

 

On vacation I stopped into Tioga Sequoia in Fresno, expecting to chill with a couple of fresh WCIPA's but there was a line around the block to get into an event called "Tiogaland". A giant IP ripoff of Disneyland filled with kids and adults in constumes, food trucks, live music and a sea of people all trying to get a beer. It was pretty messed up to see so many toddlers and babies there along with photo ops with Buzzlightyear, Woody, Jessie. Everyone was having a great time but I totally felt out of sorts as I had left my son back at the hotel with his mom.
Not much a of kid debate in Cali, goes way back to Pizza Port where I've seen many young ones sleeping at the table, late at night while Mom and Dad have thier fun.

https://fresnoland.org/2025/06/17/tiogaland/

 

Yup. It’s all on the parents. Leave kids alone and they’ll do kid stuff. Keep them in line consistently and with rules and consequences, and they’ll behave. I see it all the time. Plenty of kids are well-behaved. My sister’s kids are nuts because she lets them be. My brother’s kids are great because he parents them.

 

I know what I'm about to unleash, but I would rather have loud annoying kids running around than watch them zombied out on ipads in a mobile tent that's sealed to the outside world (which is what was happening the last time I was at TH).

That being said, I've never brought my kids to a brewery. TH might be the only place I would do it because of how much open space there is. Once they're both over the age of 5 we'll re-evaluate

 

Has anyone been to Tree House Saratoga before a show at SPAC? I'm contemplating Tree House>Phish on Saturday, wondering how much of a shit show it would be.

 

I haven't been to the Saratoga location yet, but knowing Phish fans and SPAC well, there's no way it isn't an absolute massive shit show.

 

It’s the best beer they make, has been for a long-ass time, and people need to start realizing it.

 

I did last week, like 3-4 hours before the show and it was fine. I imagine the hour or two before will be a fucking nightmare tho.

 

childless people love to complain about other's people kids no matter what they're doing, its either, "Helicopter parents sucks, let kids be kids and play on their own." or "Why aren't they watching their kids" or "look at those terrible parents letting their kids rot their brain on an ipad all day."

 

And if we forever stay locked inside our homes with our kids as all these childless people say we should do, then we're guilty of ceasing support for the breweries whose growth we made possible when we were heavy-drinking, child-free 20-somethings back in the 2000s-10s.

Parents truly can't win, no matter how we play this game.

 

Definitely not true of all childless parents. That’s a sweeping generalization. As a childless parent, my belief is that SOME parents can and should do a better job supervising their kids while in a shared space open to the public. I see plenty of well-parented kids out in public, and I see parents who don’t pay attention to their kids’ behavior at all. That aside, I simply don’t care how people raise their kids unless their kids’ behavior interferes with other people. And it has nothing to do with winning or losing. It’s not competition.

 

No one is saying stay locked inside your home. Sheesh, exaggerate much? And sure you can win. Just don't let your kids run amok unsupervised no matter where they are (except obvious places likes a playground). Same with dog owners, just be aware of other people's space. The majority of parents and dog owners are able to do that quite well.

 

Yeah, obviously, I'm exaggerating in response to the numerous claims here and elsewhere that all breweries should ban all kids at all times of day. Our world doesn't offer a lot of spaces where it's easy to be in public with kids - heck, even lots of the playgrounds in our area lack bathrooms, so aren't really suitable destinations for a family outing. Libraries have limited hours and aren't really places where adults can socialize much, and very few coffee shops have the space needed to be family-friendly. We don't bring our kids to breweries because we want to get drunk or need to try the latest tiramisu marshmallow stout, but because it's really good for kids to be in public, have to learn to be bored a little bit, and see adults socialize with each other (of course, being able to enjoy a beer is nice too). There just aren't very many other spaces where that works all that well, at least where I live. And since most of the parents we see at breweries do a pretty good job, it really does seem like some of the no-kids-in-breweries brigade would really just rather never have to see a child in public.

In any case, I try to parent the way you suggest and leave when it's not working out.

 

Sapheads, make the pilgrimage. Of the whole Sap family, there isn’t one like this.

Got cloudy early today so bailed on the beach and pool and felt like making the trip. Most notably as we needed coffee and wanted to grab big star as the coffee is the shit that sells out instantly now. 2:40 to get to Armsby for lunch. And another 40 to TH on a pretty backroad drive and THE giant hill.

Maybe 1:40 at most back to Portsmouth, NH. On a Friday, Mid tourist season, at 6:00 pm. Epic of all epic drives home