Tree House Brewing Company (2020)

The amount of hopped beers sitting at room temp on store floors and shelves is, to me, absolutely insane.

I’m sure someone will chime in about surplus, shelf space, etc and I get that but jeez. There’s stuff that I see sitting at room temp that id otherwise wants try or grab but when I just see it sitting there it’s usually a hard pass.

 

That Autumn really been sitting there since Dec. 10th?

 

I wasn't a huge fan. It wasn't bad at all but it wasn't great either.
I also didn't like Saturated and I feel like they had some similarities.
Saturated was way too sweet. I realize that was probably what they were going for and I don't know if knowing about the syrups before I tried it was a factor. It just wasn't for me.

 

Does it definitely matter?
I am genuinely asking.
An ipa brewed a month earlier sitting on a shelf would be drastically different than if it were in a cooler?

 

See Post #129. Banging on 90 days (and that is at the brewery). Makes a big difference. Hundreds of posts last year on this thread regarding the freshness subject.

 

They're making enormous batches of beer. Wonder how big their average batch is these days? It's insane that they sell through most batches within a few weeks given 99% of it is being sold out of the brewery. Not to surprising that some of their average beers linger a while. I love that there's always plenty of time to grab cans of Old Man

 

Serious question: how many of you still buy IPAs (well at least NEIPAs) at packies anymore? I am down to the occasional 4 pack of King Sue, otherwise I buy direct from breweries and I would be pissed to buy a month old NEIPA can for 5 bucks direct from a brewery. Is Autumn the new Baby Bright? For the record, I enjoyed both and it is pretty crazy when a galaxy hopped double IPA lasts that long at Tree House. I guess it is a testament to the amount and variety they have been pumping out.

 

I actually probably buy a bit more than I did in the past but it’s mainly singles since there is so much stuff to try. Rather do that than buy a 4 pack just to find out I’m not a fan of it. Really only try to buy stuff from the fridge.

 

They officially have too many offerings. I went tonight to buy a mixed case and 1bottle of triple shot. 12 of the cans were being split between two friends. I fully intended to buy Jjjjulius for both myself and my friends. Walked out of there with a good array but no Jjjjulius. Just totally spaced on it.

 

I don't buy IPA cans at retail much anymore due to

1. lack of familiarity with most breweries
2. number of rotating options from breweries who i don't completely trust
3. better options on draft at bars or at my lbs (i usually fill a growler if i want a hoppy beer)

Would this be different if I was back in MA? I would probably buy the odd four pack of Exhibit A or Sip, but in general, I feel like my consumption of IPAs at home would be limited to that one brewery in VT.

 

I still buy from the packy.
A lot of VT and ME stuff is doing at least limited distribution here in MA.
Burlington drops every two weeks at least. Great beer and well priced.
Lush comes in.
Lone Pine has some great stuff (Chaos Emeralds in particular).
I now see Fat Orange Cat (CT) pretty regularly.
Great Notion (OR) had that one drop a couple months back.
Then there is the midwest stuff. Toppling Goliath obviously but I have seen Hop Butcher a couple of times.
I probably buy a "shelfy" 4pak every couple of weeks or so depending on what I find but I have no problem walking out empty handed either.

 

It makes a huge difference. There was a study done recently (I’ll have to find it) where it was shown even with incredibly low TPO levels hoppy beers started to show signs of degradation as early as 4 days at room temp where as beers with even higher levels of Packaged Oxygen were still “within spec” after a much longer time if kept cold.

As a lowly homebrewer who has a pretty rudimentary way of putting hoppy beer in cans I would say the same thing. Even with my methods that probably aren’t nearly as sound as what a nice canning line can accomplish I see very little fall off in my hop forward canned beer if it’s kept cold the whole time. They never really fall off in the keg but I was expecting a shorter life once I started canning and it really hasn’t been the case. Haven’t bothered to leave a bunch at room temps for a while to see what happens.

 

Anymore? IPA selection at packies has never been better.

 

I

Well, I've gone through 3 cases of SN Celebration, which is my top beer of 2019 and is easily better than any IPA a Massachusetts brewer makes. I'll probably buy more if I can find it to age a bit just to try out.

Outside of that, I buy a fair bit of Second Fiddle from package stores. I also buy Santilli, Cat's Meow, and some random others on occasion.

My guess is it was the last brewing of it of the season right before they brewed a ton of special beers for the holidays. I've had autumn before and it's a solid beer but they keep releasing galaxy bombs. Not a shocker that not all are selling like crazy.

 

They discuss it shortly in this podcast: https://www.masterbrewerspodcast.com/154
And I think the research might be this one: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03610470.2019.1603002
It's also discussed in the slides of Daniel Sharp for the juicy dry hopping workshop at the master brewers conference 2019.

 

Ah yes- Celebration- I did get a 12 pack of that and you are right- I am not finding that cost/quality proposition in a beer at any of the local breweries. And we all know how you feel about Second Fiddle and at least Second Fiddle isn't sold for 18 bucks a 4 pack.

 

Bold statement.
Do you like west coast ipas more than new england ipas?

 

I will take celebration over just about any other hoppy beer As well. It is exceptionally well made. However it is very different from NEIPAs. I am not sure it is a bold statement. It’s an incredible beer that is in a style that is not as popular as some others. If you like that kind of beer it does not get much better then that.

 

I Actually buy beer at package stores more than I have at any point in the last 5 years. We're at the point now where a good package stores will have fresh, high quality NEIPAS in the cooler, if you know where to look. I cant really justify the time commitment of going to a select brewery to buy beer on the regular, when I can drive 5 minutes and get week old, cold Counterweight Headway, NEBCO Gbot, or many other options whenever I want. To me buying direct from breweries exclusively was more of a necessity like 3-4 years ago.

 

I should also add that I have been able to make it to breweries less than in the past and I am not really making weekly/monthly can runs. I didn't bring any cans back from MA when I was up there either. I brought some bottles I had picked up in Philly and some Maine (Allagash/Oxbow) bottles I had picked up during the Summer but hadn't been able to bring down to VA.