Trillium Brewing Company (2019)

Wow cycle went from #2 to not on the list. . What happened?

 

Doug killed the secondary market on his beers

 

First time I've had DDH Congress in quite a while and seems so much sweeter than I remember. Softer too, but not worth the trade off. It's still decent, but not the memorable treat I recall.

 

Congrats to them, but the new fermentation profile is still a terrible, saccharine-sweet, muddled flavor mess with no singular hop flavors . What once excited me about their beers has been lost, in the name of - what, exactly - “soft mouthfeel” (which seems to actually translate to unbearable bubblegum/buttery sweetness)?? Or is it JC and the quality team’s vague and self congratulatory determination that “this is better” and represents their evolution to blah blah blah blah blah....

 

I had all those beers and thought they were good and fine to drink. I don’t think the Congress Street was bad. I had it last week again and it had the typical clementine orange citrus peach notes, still juicy, wasn’t too malty or peanuty or buttery or whatever people say. I don’t know about flabby I guess that is a mouthfeel thing. It didn’t really taste like “old” Congress Street but I still thought it was good to drink and the person who I had it with thought it tasted good too.

 

say hello to the new/trerrible fermentation profile

 

picked up the Galaxy DH Fort Point last week as well as Vicinity and neither is tasting as good as I remember...was thinking it may just be my palate, but maybe not?

sad rea;;y

 

I've been harping on the new fermentation profile being shit, but the fanbois are too willing to accept whatever Trillium pumps out. I literally have cut my Trillium spending to 0 from a high amount since right after the change.

I really wish people would band together to force a change (ala wage/hour issue) but it wont happen. Too many people rating these things 5 stars fire based on name alone.

 

I haven't spent a cent at Trillium since the wage dust-up, after being a very regular customer for years. This isn't so much a boycott, but stepping back for a bit at that time gave me a chance to really consider my Trillium habit. Given the fermentation change (for the worse, in my opinion) and my overall perception of their business and methods it became very obvious that there was no longer any reason to spend premium dollars on their products.

No matter who you are or your budget you can only drink so much beer. Not buying Trillium has allowed me to try so many other things, the majority of which have been better (again, in my humble opinion) and less expensive. Is it possible something will change my mind in the future? Of course. But for now and the foreseeable future Trillium will just be a memory of what once was. Hubris run amok.

 

Has anyone tried the Lock and Key? How does it stack up next to a recent batch of Fort Point?

 

I've had a very similar experience, though I stopped going to Trillium long before the wage debacle.

To be honest, I'd rather sit down with a 6-pack of Fort Hill Fresh Pick than the majority of Trillium's hop-forward beers. I would still go occasionally for Fort Point 4-packs, but I've even tapered off doing that.

 

I had both of the Lock & Keys, first one on draft, and thought they were good. I still have a can left of the new IPA. It has pretty clean hop notes, bright profile and maybe a bit drier feeling. A little honey/bready sweetness underneath maybe. I’d probably still take Fort Point over it but it’s something different and maybe a bit less muddled to the folks who aren’t liking the new fermentation profile. It may be “gluten-reduced” but it tastes like a fine IPA to me.

 

You’re crazy if you think mettle on the new fermentation profile isn’t better than the old.

 

Heavy Mettle on the other hand has become undrinkable; no hop flavors of any kind, just the taste of jolly ranchers and garlic cloves . Drain pour, just like most of their other flagships

 

I kind of feel bad for the people that taste these things. I can agree that the Heavy Mettle wasn’t as good as old, but I certainly didn’t think it tasted like jolly ranchers or garlic. It was smoother and maybe less pungent and robust if I remember correctly. Less intense, which to some is a good thing.

 

This is an argument that's definitely worth having.

Also, Trillium has never been particularly consistent. I feel like the whole "fermentation profile" thing, while no doubt significant, has become a catch-all for complaints about their beer. Too sweet? It's the new fermentation. Texture off? It's the fermentation. Shards of glass at the bottom of the can? Goddamn London III, it's always doing that shit...

 

And what’s worse is that the beautiful and unique flavors of Columbus and galaxy have faded away and are nowhere to be seen, even in Congress street. So sad, since those flavors are what captivated me initially.

 

I disagree somewhat: I found it much More bitter and less smooth...I agree on the less pungent , which is what I think is such a loss, the galaxy and Columbus combo is so delicious in nose and taste and to lose it is, well, a loss. Feels like one of the defining trillium characteristics is just gone

 

I can understand this complaint, and I’ve been saying the same thing and mentioning it to some people that I drink with. It’s not just them, I think that some of the hops just aren’t as good as year’s past. I’ve had beers from other breweries too that I thought didn’t taste like I expected based on hops from year’s past. I feel like Citra is more dank this (last grown) year, and mosaic is more earthy, galaxy isn’t as fruity or something. It’s almost like some of the hops they got aren’t quite up to recent year’s par. Part of the natural product phenomenon I suppose. It’s grown naturally and the weather and environment, and processing etc can contribute to the hop’s overall quality and outcome. Maybe the hops they picked weren’t as good for this year, who knows? I still don’t think the beers are that bad, just different. I guess that’s a result of relying on so much hop flavor in your beer.

 

I think slight differences from batch to batch are completely different from the fermentation profile issues that I and others have been complaning about. Some of these beers are just not the same.