Tree House (Charlton) IPA quality is disappointing

I would pay to witness a blind tasting of NEIPAs. Think there would be a lot of anger and confusion.

 

It's been done recently in a FB group I'm in. The Sam Adams NEIPA came in 3rd, behind TH, Trillium (1st and 2nd) and 6 other popular NEIPAs. People were outraged. lol.

 

You need to go to the midnight silent releases to get the good stuff

 

Hard to beat going to the package store and grabbing a 4pack of Sam Adams neipa for 10 bucks in under 5 minutes lol

 

TH has always had batch variation and has admitted as much, although I'd say they have admirably little compared to other similar operations. It was bound to be an issue with the move to Charlton.

That said I agree 100% with folks citing rarity, palate fatigue, and poor recall. I can recall a few TH batches I haven't loved in both Monson and Charlton, but the vast majority are right on. The idea that quality is down across the board since the move is ridiculous and anyone pushing that narrative shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

In all honesty, take a TH break. Go have some nice local fresh stuff near you, mix up the styles, etc. Trade for some TH in a month or 2 and then see how you feel.

 

I knew this was going to happen. I'm guessing within a year this will be the prevailing opinion.

Rarity just tastes better.

 

It's unrealistic to expect your 100th Green to give you the same experience that your first one did, even if the beer hasn't changed at all.

The beer is also changing all the time of course, being the product of many unreliable organic processes.

In conclusion, your experiences are ephemeral and unknowable, your senses can't be trusted, your memory is unreliable, your cognitive processes are faulty and self-deceiving, and we're all gonna die soon anyway. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

That's great.

 

I doubt there's much of a difference. The quality of local or shelfie NEIPA has gotten better so the gap between those and TH is smaller, thus the perception that TH quality has gone down. TH and Trillium are no longer unlike anything you've ever had, even if they are still top tier.

Also, FWIW I did a blind tasting w/ Sam Adams NEIPA vs multiple shelfie NEIPA and Sam came in last.

 

Maybe the differences are due to specific lots of hops. It seems like the general consensus is that Green (except for one batch) has been phenomenal while Julius has suffered. Personally I think the recent batches of Green are better than those I had from Monson. Also Eureka w/Galaxy was outstanding, Present Moment definitely tastes like there is a huge galaxy component and I thought that was super tasty albeit one dimensional. This leads me to believe these galaxy hops must be fantastic.

With Julius it seems a little "hazy" to me. There is a special place in my mind for that beer...it was my first TH brew and it absolutely blew me away. I have a hard time believing any Julius will ever compare to that one. There was a batch of cans I got late summer that just seemed like it was missing something, but the pint I had at the brewery this past Sat was outstanding. Maybe the hops are to blame...a little bit of inconsistency can go a long way on the scale that they are brewing at now.

Also like mentioned above TH and Trill seem to stand alone in their own tier...but the competition isn't that far behind anymore. Maybe its all perception due to competition starting to catch up

 

That's amazing. Can you post the list? Or a link to the thread itself on FB?

 

Screw you guys and your rarity comments, that cask of Julius w/ Citra at the 4th Anniversary was the single greatest beer in existance /s

But seriously it was awesome....

 

I am a believer in the philosophy that a "special " beer tastes the "best" to you the very first time you drink it.

 

I agree with the sentiment that Green is just as good as ever, but others, particularly Haze are off just a bit. Almost as if it's "too smooth/balanced" if that makes sense.

I think a big part of it too is that so many other breweries have stepped their game up. There's a bunch of breweries locally in CT (new park, Kent falls, 12% to name a few) that are brewing great stuff and have more, what I'll call "hop explosion" to them than recent tree house does to me. Still great beer without question, but there are other breweries I'd put above them, which is something I've just recently realized.

 

I've had an off batch of Green and an off batch of Haze, but by and large what I've had at Charlton is as good as I remember at Monson. The last round of Green (when they released it alongside Very Green) was the absolute tits, and the Julius I've had at the new brewery has been as remembered.

Give it time, or stop drinking it until such time as batch variation is no longer a thing. This happened in Canton. It happens when breweries expand significantly. It's generally not permanent.

 

It's called "throwing in a kolsch every once in a while"

 

This isn't a joke or something to believe or disbelieve. There is actual science on the matter and this phenomenon is true. More specifically the more special or invested (emotionally or monetarily) you are in a good, the more you will like it.

That being said, are the beers from Charlton different from Monson? Definitely. Are different batches of beer brewed on the same system different let alone on different systems? Definitely.

Are they close enough that blind (if it were possible) you wouldn't be able to tell them apart? Definitely.

Does your brain and memory still interpret large differences that are more likely caused by external factors like recent diet, surroundings, presentation, investment, temperature, and mood? Definitely.

 

I'm curious as to why you think that in your tastings over time of beer shipped to you in the mail, that it is the fault of the brewery that there are flavor fluctuations and not some difference in your palette, something you ate, whether or not you had a headcold, etc.

Because those other causes are FAR more likely to be the reason as opposed to your eidetic memories of how various cans of beer tasted across several years of tasting.

 

And beer geeks are terrible at realizing how true this is.