Tree House (2025)

Worth noting that Super Sap came out about three months ago at this point unless I missed a release...

 

Nope, that’s the one. It was fantastic during Christmas

 

yeah it was the mid December batch, it was excellent at Xmas and legitimately bad in mid January. Almost never happens with their beers for me.

 

Agree. The Super Sap/Very Sappy (or any similar iterations) are some of my favorite beers from them. I think they sometimes do a random release of them in the summer too, but wish they'd be on the calendar more frequently.

 

Agreed that the current system of on-line ordering is better

 

I just saw that the Saratoga Tao room opened last Monday the 10th.
Has anyone been there?
With a report?

 

I'm in town for a month for work and I am staying at the hotel directly next door so I've been there a handful of times now, some just for can pick up and others inside for a few pours. It's a beautiful location with a very large tasting room. Entrance to the tasting room is located around the back of the building with to-go pickups happening out front. Very large outside seating area, some of which is covered and some that is not. Ample parking but there have been several days where the lot was completely full. When you walk in, the bar is directly ahead of you with retail merch to the left and all of their spirits, to go cans and pizza to the right. Lots of communal seating ala long benches and long tables. Pizza by the slice, $3.50 for cheese and $3.75 for pepperoni. Had a couple pepperoni with a side of hot honey and it was delicious. There is a second seating area with a giant fire pit in the middle of it. This room has more individual and group seating with lots of tables and a few long bars. Ordering drinks was a breeze, they have video monitors and also laminated menus with pour options. They check your ID and give you a wristband and most pours are $9 flat. No tip option on any of the purchase points I went to, so I'm assuming that is built in or they are paying their employees a good wage. Overall, it was a great experience, and I think this location is going to do really well.

 

They bury the gratuity at the very bottom of all the pages, for some reason...

 

Oh wow, I never even got the opportunity to see that, and they didn't point it out either. When ordering a draft pour, they put the order in a handheld payment device and turned it around to me. At that point the only thing on the screen was the total. Once I tapped my card, the bartender turned it back to himself and went about pouring my drink. Same experience when ordering pizza and purchasing at the merch store.

 

headed up to deerfield this weekend... what's tasting amazing?

 

Thanks for the report! If that parking lot is filling up already, imagine what it’s going to be like in the summer…

 

I think I've told the bartender to add like $2 gratuity when ordering directly at the bar. But yeah, if ordering from a kiosk or online (maybe not even possible yet for 'pours' in Saratoga), the gratuity is usually at the very bottom.

 

Yeah, they don't have pours available for purchase online for Saratoga yet. I'll keep this in mind though the next time I head in there.

 

Scream of the Living is something I picked up on a whim at Tree House Tewksbury this weekend and I'm glad I did. Tasting great!

 

I’m not a better in Monson guy by any means - there are so many things about the TH experience now that are 1000x better than standing in a parking lot for 2 hours, and even then I thought there were times when the beer was excellent and times where it was just good. But I will say it was probably more likely the beer would have the intense TH flavor at that point in time. That’s not the be all end of all if a great IPA for me, some of the best they’ve made haven’t had much of it, but it’s noteworthy as part of what put them on the map obviously.

Well, I feel like they’ve figured something out, because I’m either getting lucky with the beers I’m picking to buy or they’re hitting that WAY more often now. Monson 10th the latest one for me that’s right on.

 

Alright, I know this has been asked before but I couldn’t find any recent observations.

What are Charlton draft lines like on a Sunday around open? (Noon). Finally planning to visit with some friends and I’ve never been on a weekend.

I really like to avoid standing in a line to order a beer…

 

Seeing that pours are $9 got me thinking that it’s interesting how much more they charge for draft beer than canned beer. If you order a pour of Red Fern, for example, you’re paying $0.75/ounce. If you get a 4-pack to go of the same beer, you’re paying $0.33/ounce. That’s quite a difference. Doing the same for Julius, a pour is $0.50/ounce and a 4-pack is $0.26/ounce. Smaller difference but still almost double.

 

I feel like this is fairly common. In MA at least.

 

Sorry if this has been addressed, but does anyone know if there are plans to brew in Saratoga, or is it just a tap room? I know the MO of all the locations (except CT) are taproom only, but I'm curious how much additional brewing capacity there is in Charlton?

 

Agree. Although in my experience (not in MA) $9 is on the high end, and Tree House 4-pack prices are lower than average.