Talking Trillium IPAs

FYI, the Curiosity series is Tree House, not Trillium.

Overall agree with your premise that Trillium is putting out world-class IPAs.

 

Trillium, Tree House, Night Shift, Foundation, Lawson's, Alchemist, Fiddlehead, Bissel . . .the list goes on and on. We're spoiled rotten in New England that's for sure.

Also - the title of this post immediately had me singing it like Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake in Barry Gibb Talk Show.

 

love 'em.

I have yet to have a sip of the West Coast stuff, but I've done the Vermont circuit as recently as June and Trilium is right there with them. When you consider the relative ease with which you can get your hands on Trilium (which blows me away considering one is in downtown Boston and 3 are in upstate Vermont), it's hands down the brewery of New England.

I love all things Tree House - the people, the location, the experience, the beer - but I think most folks would consider the greater variety of products that Trilium puts out to be the characteristic that puts them ahead of the good folks in Monson MA. (Personally, I drink about 2 saisons & barleywines a year, so my tastes are far more in line with the stuff that TH puts out.)

The only beer that I was slightly bummed out by, and only because the expectations were sky high, was Artaic. Vicinity is better. And that drops Artaic all the way down to merely the 6th or 7th best DIPA I've ever had.

From a very simple non-brewer perspective, Susan, Congress, Melcher, Julius & Green all seem to be created in the same vision of a massive juicy hop bomb. It's made me have a greater appreciation for Maine beer's Lunch, and its far more delicate tastes in an IPA.

All that being said...Sip of Sunshine is still my personal favorite. It's the perfect combination of delicacy and juice bomb.

is it really only 10:30? man I'm thirsty...!!!!

 

All of this talk, my visit back to Trillium on Saturday cannot come soon enough...

 

Nightshift's hoppy offerings are not in the same class with the others above. But yeah, we are really spoiled around here.

 

I'd agree....and thrown Wormtown in that next tier....which is kind of amazing considering how good their stuff is and just goes to your point about how spoiled we are!

 

You say potato I say potatto . . . but I think we all agree basically on the same point :-)

 

What can I say that hasn't already been said about Trillium. JC understands and delivers on how to bring world class IPA's to the people. I'm lucky that I live and work in the Boston area which allows me to hit Trillium once/week. Not good for my bank account but its worth it. We may be a little biased because this is the New England thread but they're still young and I believe once they get their new brewery online it will just get better as more of their beer will get out there. I'm a sour beer guy so I'm also expecting that in time their barrel and sour program continues to grow and their portfolio continues to diversify. Since this is a Trillium IPA thread I'll offer my top 5 Trillium IPA's based on extensive research.

1. Vicinity
2. Double Dry Hopped Melcher (I can't get enough Mosaic hops)
3. Heavy Mettle
4. DDH Fort Point
5. Their last batch of DDH Publick House (I still think about this last batch and am hoping they drop it again soon)

 

I like your style. Those are my top 2 as well.

 

The only thing I'd say about this is that despite the sheer number of hoppy beers that Trillium puts out, I don't know that I'd call their lineup "deep". For the most part they're making very similar beers with variations of size/strength and the specific hops featured (and even then it's mostly different combinations of Columbus/Galaxy/Citra/Mosaic). Nothing wrong with sticking (mostly) to a house style especially when they're so damn good at it, but despite having dozens of these beers, it's all kinda one beer.

 

Mine as well, although I'd flip DDH Melcher and Vicinity. We are spoiled to be sure.

 

I'm probably in the minority, but I think the standard versions of these beers are much better than the DDH versions. The DDH versions come off as raw and borderline vegetal to me. Overwhelms the rest of the beer.

Has anyone put together a list of the various IPAs and the hops used? Street names are cool and all, but would be nice to know what I'm drinking.

 

It's been in the thread(s) a few times, but here it is from what I recall. Corrections/tweaks welcomed.

Artaic: Mosaic
A Street: Amarillo, Columbus. Past batches are Azacca, Columbus (lack of available Amarillo)
Congress Street: Galaxy, Columbus
FPPA: Citra, Columbus
FB-90: Galaxy, Mosaic, Columbus
Heavy Mettle: Citra, Amarillo, Columbus
Itty Bitty Goose: Simcoe, Columbus
Melcher St: Mosaic, Columbus
Mettle: Citra, Amarillo, Columbus
Pier: Citra, Galaxy, Columbus
Pocket Pigeon: El Dorado, Columbus
Sleeper Street: El Dorado, Columbus
Stumpy Duck: Centennial, Citra
Summer Street: Simcoe, Columbus
The Publick House: Citra, Centennial, Columbus (original batch(es) were Chinook, Centennial, Columbus)
Upper Case: Mosaic, Citra, Galaxy, Columbus
Vicinity: Galaxy, Citra, Columbus

 

I hear you but I try to let all my Trillium bottles sit for at least a week (7-10 days is ideal I've found) before cracking into them. Drinking any Trillium brews 1-2 days right after bottling I find they tend to be slightly bitter/cut grass taste if you will. I also think people's tolerances for hops is different.

As far as which hops are in which Trillium beers, here's my understanding, please correct me where I'm wrong.
- Congress - Galaxy
- Fort Point - Citra
- Summer Street - Simcoe
- Melcher Street - Mosaic
- A Street - Azacca
- Sleeper Street - El Dorado
- Vicinity - Galaxy, Citra, Columbus
- Mettle - Amarillo?, Citra, Columbus
- Artaic - Mosaic/Raw honey
- Upper Case - Primarily Mosaic, supporting roles by Galaxy, Citra, Columbus

 

MattOC seems to have it covered better than me!

 

Congress St is the new standard by which I measure all pale ales.

 

Eh, not sure on that front. Trillium certainly kills it overall but I really enjoy the Whirlpool 16oz cans...

 

Yeah the double dry hopped versions have an immediate wow factor, but they can be so intense that I get burnt out before I've finished a pint.