Trillium Brewing Company (2019)

Same here. I used to make a purchase at least once per month, often times more frequently, since they opened up the Fort Point location. Haven't made a purchase since last November. I don't miss Trillium and Trillium certainly doesn't need my business.

 

I've complained loud, long and hard. Trillium skipped a few beats for me and I'll never respect the Tetraults as I once did. But all that wage stuff for me is old news and under the rug. I don't go down there as much as I used to, I've brought more breweries into my life, and I don't need to try every beer Trillium puts out - but they still brew great beer and I still enjoy drinking it, and Fenway is now about 2 miles away from me. Cheers!

 

I felt like the change from the old yeast was a huge step down for almost all of the flagships. I haven't been back since the wage debacle and JC outing himself as a bellend. I don't complain, I just don't support them anymore. More for everyone else.

 

Why did they change their yeast?

 

Because you instantly get all new beers for all the same recipes.

 

I think (my theory and board opinion at the time) it was an over-correction from the throat burn complaints brought about by the infamous Never & Again release combined with some sub-par hop crops. For whatever reason, Trillium's most extremely hopped beers were really getting astringent and the new process seemed to "soften" these issues.

The problem was it really changed the identity of the long-standing Streets beers. That said, I enjoy many of the newer beers designed after the yeast change such as Gay Head Lighthouse and Crown & Crate.

 

Trillium still makes good beer, sure, but (to my taste) the core beers are not what they used to be.

I'm not sure if it is increased competition, continued backlash for business practices and/or fermentation techniques, or just brand fatigue, but their beer sales have slowed a bit. I grabbed a four pack of DDH Melcher last week, and it was almost 3 weeks old. I'm not saying that is old, but it wouldn't have lasted that long 12-months ago.

I also think they have had to diversify their beers to appeal to the diners at their restaurant. I went there (exactly) once, and only 3 of the 8 people at the table got hoppy beers. I think a lot of the more casual consumer don't necessarily like the DDH TIPAs, so they've had to develop a pilsner, lager, and hard seltzer!

All that said, I thought the DDH Vicinity was as good as anything I've had from them in a year.

 

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't think NEIPAs are a very good pairing with food, whereas some of the styles that Trillium has "diversified" into are.

EDIT: It made sense for them to diversify into those styles for the sake of the restaurants, not necessarily for a wider audience (but also a wider audience)

 

Not unpopular with me, I think that's also a good point about the expanded offerings.

 

Thirded.

Also, as someone who lives in Pittsburgh, an outsider if you will, I don't think some of you know how good you have it up in Boston with your array of solid options. Trillium would easily shit all over any other Pittsburgh brewery, and we have a few I think are fairly good. So it's funny to me to wander in here and see the "meh" approach to Trillium by some.

 

Not even just casual consumers. I like beer quite a bit and I drink it very often. There are many times that I do not want a double IPA or triple IPA and would much prefer a Vienna logger, Dunkel, brown ale, or a saison. I agree with the poster above mentioned that IPAs aren’t necessarily the best food pairing option. They can work with a very limited amount of food. However this is true with many styles of beer. Many styles of beer have limited versatility when it comes to food pairing.
However if you have eight distinct styles you usually can find one that will pair well with your food. The problem is is if there is not much versatility. That is one of my biggest complaints about most restaurants is they cater to popular beer, which makes sense since they’re in business to make money. However, it really hurt someone like me who likes beers that complement the food well. To me restaurants who want to pair their food with beer need to have a big dark beer, a malty light colored beer, a malty medium colored beer, a slightly hoppy beer, and a big hoppy beer, then a beer like a Pilsner which is a little molty and a little hoppy. To be fair though I have never been to Trillium’s restaurant so this is just more of a general statement about restaurants.

 

i probably sound like a broken record but trillium pilsner is the best value buy in the northeast right now. outrageously good at $2.50 per

 

It's definitely up there, always pleasantly surprised by how good it is especially when there's been some pretty unremarkable releases in that "old world" series or whatever you wanna call it (the hefe was fairly disappointing).

Personally I think Notch's The Standard is the superior value-pils, I forget what I paid for a 4-pack though it was probably more than $10 admittedly, and I think it's canned less frequently as well...

Trillium's pilsner definitely holds it own.

 

So they changed the yeast for everything? New beers AND originals? That seems strange.

 

wow i disagree so hard with this statement. i still love trillium but dancing gnome & brew gentlemen are right on their level as far as quality goes. and voodoo is up there as well.

 

i will take post shit & notch session pils any day over trilliums pilsner. and i liked trilliums pilsner. but i NEED central artery to make a return. loved that beer.

 

House Lager is $1.67 per.

 

Nice

 

I've seen it as low as a buck/12oz can in the 15 packs - genuinely my favorite value in craft beer.