Tree House Brewing Company (August 2017)

Yup. They're recipes with natural ingredients... there's going to be some variance batch to batch.

I don't mind commenting on the differences between batches as long as people understand it affects every brewery. Hell... I actually enjoy the fact that each batch is unique, but a lot of people seem to think it means that all quality will head straight down the tubes.

 

When will people stop thinking this is an actual practice that is employed by the brewery?

Absurd. They have stated publically how ridiculous of a notion this is.

 

Totally agree. Batch uniqueness is what makes it a craft. This batch was different than most other batches but I'm sure it tasted great.

 

Odd. The prevailing wisdom has been that Nate would never release something that isn't up to par.

At least we can put that dogmatic horseshit to rest. There was always batch variation and it wasn't just between great and godly.

Many people also either don't remember or don't know what the beer was early on in Brimfield. Julius wasn't even the same beer it became. The process continues regardless of the fairy tales.

 

Would you expect them to admit if this was the case? Lol Sorry but anything they say in that regard is far from canon. They have smart business sense making statements of that nature suspect.

 

Weird thing to be conspiratorial about.

I absolutely take their word for it that they aren't releasing a subpar batch of beer by bait and switching their customers. That is absurd to think they could do this without the majority of people taking notice

 

Not to mention that I don't think they'd be willing to deal with the potential consequences if their fanbase caught wind.

 

It's not a conspiracy at all. If they put a bad batch of a flagship into a curiosity can almost no one would notice. The people who did would be promptly shit upon and berated by the they do no wrong navy and the sell trade but don't drink any army.

It's also not bait and switch. They aren't promising you anything with the curiosity series besides a one off that 'lets them learn and experiment'. If the beer isn't outright bad they can sell it and no one knows the better.

 

They don't admit it and no one ever catches wind. Especially with the amount of dogma that exists around them. The fact that many in the fanbase think it's an impossibility makes doing it zero risk.

No smart brewery would entertain the thought. MA faves have released a beer that went wrong under a new name, slightly tweaked name or tweaked description and no one said anything and denied it when confronted. (1 by myself) I know 2 that have done this as a fact.

It's not even a bad thing. If you want your faves to dump every not bad but not right beer, you won't have faves for long. Few are releasing outright bad flawed beers in this manner.

 

The "bad" batch of Julius looks like an OG version in Brimfield hahaha.

OMG you can see through it! Pitchforks! Haha. Freaking people.

 

Conspiracy discussion aside, I do wonder how much Julius recipe has changed since that photo was taken. I know "constant improvement/evolution" is a tenet of the brewery (and rightly so), but I'm curious as to how similar the recipe that churns out Julius nowadays is to the one that's responsible for that photo.

This applies to a bunch of NE-style hoppy beer breweries beyond TH too. I remember Other Half's used to look like this--that is, until it started looking like this.

 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

...

Also could be because it's a cash cow trend that is peaking ... just saying.

 

Your words and more objective opinion than most ring true. I appreciate your candor. I was wondering why they had 1000+ cases of C38. Why did it taste like (to me) a mix of green , julius and something else to water it down below 6.8% abv. On top of that I liked it. Why on Gods Green earth would they waste sub par Julius / Green when they could rile up the masses and call it a curiosity. These guys make great beer but they are not infallible. A lot of what keeps TH at the center of attention is great marketing.

 

Good point on case count

 

Sarcastic but clever use of "highly"!

 

I wouldn't go that far ...

 

I've often wondered about the Curiosity series. It just seems strange to me to experiment on that scale. I wonder if Nate first brews these C batches on a very small setup and then moves to the larger brewhouse if the beer passes QC; maybe to then gauge the public's perception of it or simply just to share something the crew likes.

I suppose if there aren't too many new variables going into a given C batch then there would be little risk in releasing something that isn't very tasty as well. But there are clearly more variables than just a different hop (i.e. the Bright or Eureka series).

I also had a bit of a conspiracy theory about what seemed like frequent C releases leading up to Charlton... I thought there was a chance some of them were test runs of their core beers on the new system. I think the ABV was very close to Julius on C36 and C37. Again, wild speculation... but TH kinda makes one want to speculate too.

I only go once a month at most, so I always hope for their typical offerings when I take the day to make the trip, since I don't even get to drink these much. I can understand that more regular customers get excited for the C's since it is a break from the norm... but damnit, their normal beers are tough enough to get. I'd rather walk away with Julius, Sap, a stout, Green, Haze, Eureka, Bright, etc.

 

The prints of the painting at the new location were mentioned on this thread a few pages ago (I think). There are two up on eBay for $175 and $400 - yet you can still buy them directly (i.e., they haven't sold out) for $75. Just found that funny. Carry on with the curiosity about Curiosity.

 

Commensurate with the 500% mark up on gray market can sales.