Trillium Brewing Company & The Veil Brewing Company – Adult Human

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Richmond, The Veil Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, Virginia

I do plan on reviewing something other than a Trillium beer sooner or later, but I only have so much time in which to “research” these reviews and honestly this is all I’ve been drinking these past few weeks.  Talk about a good problem to have.

Beer Name: Adult Human

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and The Veil Brewing Company (Richmond, VA)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.2%

Description: Another collaboration double IPA, this one was brewed with blood oranges.  You can get the official write-up here.  Four packs were going for $20.20 though I personally took advantage of the brewery’s willingness to split them up this time around.  It’s been an expensive few weeks.

Appearance: Super cloudy, bright straw yellow body with a thin layer of yellowish/white foam that formed with the pour and quickly faded away.

Smell: Pineapple soaked in dank hop resin.

Taste: Opened with mellow tropical fruit and gradually became increasingly bitter by mid-sip whengrapefruit and orange pith began to take over.  After sitting for a minute or two, the beer took on a nice orange cream taste here as well.  The finish I found a bit raw and hot, as a combination of earthy and piney hops joined with the aforementioned grapefruit to rather assertively close out the brew.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate carbonation that left me with some happy little bubbles on the end.

Hype: On the basis of being a special release alone I’ll say high, though there had also been some speculation online about when this particular collaboration would become available.  Despite this anticipation I was able to just walk in and out at Fort Point.  Go figure.

Overall: This was good, but not quite as good as the other collaborations Trillium has put out in the past few weeks.  That’s admittedly some tough company for comparison’s sake, but it seems like a fair standard in this case.  I loved this beer until about the halfway point and then I felt the finish was just a bit too harsh for my preferences.  It’s nowhere near Never & Again levels, though perhaps in a couple of days that will tone down some.  Still a solid pickup.

 

Trillium Brewing Company & Other Half Brewing Company – Two Hundred Thousand Trillion

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Brooklyn, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New York, Other Half Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company

I’ve been hitting up Trillium a lot lately, but still felt the need to head on out and pick up their latest special release last Friday.  Motivating factors were these two breweries previously joined forces to create one of my top three Trillium collaboration beers and that it was an absolutely beautiful day to go for a walk when this came out.

Beer Name: Two Hundred Thousand Trillion

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and Other Half Brewing Company (Brooklyn, NY)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.0%

Description: Another collaboration between two popular East Coast breweries, this double IPA was aged on peach, apricots, and guava.  As usual, Trillium has more of the specs here on their website.

Appearance: Golden/straw yellow colored body.  Lots of cloudy haze underneath a lively white head that was very quick to fizz away.

Smell: Mild tropical fruits followed by a rush of bitter resin.

Taste: Light to moderate fruit upfront; perhaps best described as a combination of peach, apricot, mango, and pineapple.  A light, crackery malt came through about mid sip.  The finish was bitter, slightly spicy, and featured a slightly tangy reappearance of the opening fruits.

Mouthfeel: Medium, fluffy body with perhaps just a touch more carbonation than I was expecting.

Hype:  Huge!  The release was announced on Twitter about 10 before the brewery opened.  Working downtown, I arrived about 10 minutes after opening and still got stuck with a 10-15 minute wait.  By the time I got out with my cans there was a line down the block.  Honestly, if I didn’t get there when I did I would have bailed.  As usual, the brewery staff did a great job moving people along but there were also a lot of people in line loading up on everything which slowed the process down.

Overall: I like this beer a lot.  It walked an immensely satisfying line between mellow fruit and harsh bitterness and successfully offered the best of both worlds.  This was another collaboration that came out a bit different than your typical “New England (D)IPA” and I really appreciated the variety.  Trillium and Other Half seem to work very well together.

Trillium Brewing Company & Monkish Brewing Company – Dial Up the Seven Digits

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Craft Beer, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Monkish Brewing Company, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

Unfortunately I missed out on picking up another bottle of Affogato, but all was not lost as I happened upon another unannounced collaboration release.  I’ll admit I was slightly hesitant about this after my thoughts on Trillium’s last collaboration with Monkish, but I had a good feeling about this one based on the description.

Beer Name: Dial Up the Seven Digits

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and Monkish Brewing Company (Los Angeles, CA)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.2%

Description: A double IPA brewed with muscat grape juice, this collaboration is said to be a fusion of Trillium’s Dialed In (a beer I like very much) and Monkish’s Dial the Seven Digits (a brew with which I am unfamiliar).  You can read up on the specs here in a lot more detail.  Price was $22.20 for a four-pack of tallboys which has consistently been the high water mark for Trillium cans.

Appearance: Really cool looking body on this; super hazy with an almost glowing pale yellow color.  A thin white head formed on the pour but bubbled away pretty quickly.

Smell: Tropical fruits atop a dank pine cone bitterness.

Taste: Mellow blend of tropical fruits upfront, though I picked up mainly upon pineapple, mango, and a bit of peach.  These were followed by an assertive bitterness that was a blend of dank pine resin and earthy hops.  The grape juice came through almost at the finish, cutting into the bitterness right on the verge of it peaking, giving the beer a smoother finish than it would have had otherwise.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, a bit creamy on the end beneath a slightly more than moderate level of carbonation.

Hype:  People seemed to be a bit more excited about this release than they were for the one on Tuesday.  This time there was a small line when I arrived at the brewery, despite the short notice about the release.  There was also some dude walking down Congress Street making trades for extra cans, so there’s that to consider as well.

Overall: A very good beer and definitely one that made up for any lingering disappointment about the last collaboration between these two popular breweries.  The addition of grape juice really set this apart from your typical hazy, juicy New England DIPA and brought the beer to a really enjoyable finish.  I can’t speak to the Monkish side of this, but any fans of Trillium’s Dialed In brews should definitely give this a try if they can.  On a side note, as someone who works near Fort Point, I am a huge fan of how the last two special releases have been handled.  Minimal lines and no advanced consumer frenzy really made getting these beers so much less of a hassle.

Trillium Brewing Company & J Wakefield Brewing – Affogato

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Florida, J Wakefield Brewing, Massachusetts, Miami, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

Catching me by surprise, the latest Trillium collaboration brew was released with little fanfare on what was otherwise looking to be a pretty slow Tuesday at the brewery.  Upon reading the beer’s description, there was no way I was going to pass this one up and eagerly paid them a visit during my lunch break.

Beer Name: Affogato

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston/Canton, MA) and J Wakefield Brewing (Miami, FL)

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 13.3%

Description: To briefly recap the official description, this imperial stout was inspired by the dessert drink with which it shares a name and Vietnamese iced coffee.  Brewed with coffee beans, vanilla, and lactose, it by all accounts sounded like a sweet treat in a bottle.  Cost was $16.05 per bomber.

Appearance: Black body topped off by a thick layer of dark tan foam.

Smell: Sweet cream and chocolate on top of a deep layer of rich coffee.

Taste: Not quite sure where to start as this beer had a lot of great things going on.  Upfront it was on the sweeter side, featuring condensed milk and dark chocolate before transitioning towards lightly bitter cold brew coffee.  The finish added espresso to the mix and maintained the opening sweetness.  The vanilla addition was very subtle and only made an appearance once the beer had sat in the glass for a few minutes, which was just fine in my book.  There was a nice bit of heat on the very end as well, but nothing that would give any indication that this beer was over 13%.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy full body with very little carbonation.

Hype: Not as much as one might expect for a Trillium special release.  There wasn’t any advance notice about this before the breweries opened and I was able to get in and out of the Fort Point location in a matter of minutes during my lunch break.  

Overall: Fantastic, the brewers did an excellent job with this.  Not only did they nail what they were going for, they also made a beer that was absolutely delicious.  For all the hype and attention Trillium gets for their hoppy brews, they make can make a mean stout as well and this was probably my favorite from them.  My lone regret here is that I only picked up one bottle.  Definitely going back for more if possible, and I’m also going to keep an eye out for J Wakefield Brewing next time I’m in Florida.  Impressive all around.

Trillium Brewing Company – Stumpy Duck

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

While it isn’t the Bird Series beer getting all the attention right now, this had the distinct advantage of being the one I could get without having to wait in a long line.  By no means a consolation prize, I was going to pick up some these regardless of what else the brewery had available last week.

Beer Name: Stumpy Duck

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston, MA and Canton, MA)

Style: Pale Wheat Ale

ABV: 5.6%

Description: Part of the brewery’s Small Bird Series, this seasonal wheat ale was generously hopped with Columbus, Centennial, and Citra.  More specs are available here on the company website.  Price was $13.20 for a four pack of tall boys.

Appearance: Super hazy orangish-yellow body with half a finger of fluffy white foam

Smell: Sticky sweet tropical fruit mixed with pine sap.

Taste: Juicy tropical fruits upfront blended into a mix of wheat and crackery light malts roughly mid-sip.  I want to say there was also perhaps a hint of yeast lurking underneath as well.  The finish was a moderately bitter mix of grapefruit and a combination of piney, floral, and earthy hops.  Slight bite of hops on the very end.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with just about moderate carbonation for the style.

Hype: Nothing out of the ordinary for this brewery.  The  beer is part of a well-regarded series, but there was a different release taking up all the excitement around the time I picked this up.

Overall: Great beer to sit out on the back deck with.  Although a bit stronger than your typical session brew, the slight dip in ABV is appreciated especially since this packs all flavor of the brewery’s larger offerings.  Don’t pass this, or any of the other Small Birds, up if you see them available.

Trillium Brewing Company – Deciduous Imperial Brown Ale

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

I had some mixed reactions when I saw that Trillium had released Deciduous again.  At first I was excited to have another chance to get my hands on a beer I really enjoyed previously.  However, when I saw that the recipe was changed from a red ale to a brown ale this time around, I was a little bit apprehensive as I’m generally not that excited about this style.  Since I trust the brewery and my boss was buying, it seemed like this was worth a shot anyway.

Beer Name: Deciduous

Brewer: Trillium Brewing Company

Style: Imperial Brown Ale

ABV: 7.5%

Description: Brewed to celebrate the arrival of the fall season, this imperial brown ale features a complex mix of malts joining Columbus and Centennial hops.  Full description can be found on the brewery website.  The 64 oz. growler we split at the office cost $17 and 4 packs of cans were going for $17.20.  Poured into one of the only clean glasses I could find that day.

Appearance: The body had a light, tannish brown color reminiscent of iced tea or apple cider.  The brew was topped off by thin bubbly off-white head.

Smell: Slight fruity sweetness with lots of piney hops.

Taste: There were three very distinct elements to this beer, each of which had a chance to both stand out on its own and serve a supporting role.  The beer started out sweet with orange and citrus notes.  It then took on a moderate helping of toasted malts accentuated by a dank, resinous pine sap bitterness.  There was a lingering blend of all three tastes at the very end that really captured the best of each aspect.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate amount of bubbly carbonation.

Hype: Elevated.  With a decent sized production run this beer has stuck around for a bit, but when Trillium makes something people inevitably want to try it.

Overall: Very good beer.  While I think I preferred last year’s red version by a hair, that personal preference should by no means detract from this brew.  Although I am not a huge fan of hoppy brown ales in general, I really enjoyed this and might consider it my shining beacon of the style going forward.  I thought the sweetness was an excellent touch and brought with it a nice contrast to the toasted malts which I sometimes find overwhelming.  The beer a big hit with my coworkers as well, so make sure you try this one out if you have the chance.

Trillium Brewing Company – Dialed In, with Pinot Gris Juice

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

The Trillium spree continues!  This beer actually came out the same day as Never & Again, so my reasoning for this one was that I might as well pick it up since I was in line anyway.

Beer Name: Dialed In

Brewers: Trillium Brewing Company

Style: DIPA

ABV: 8.5%

Description: A double IPA with pinot gris juice added mid fermentation and dry-hopped with Galaxy and El Dorado.  For more details, the brewer notes are available here.  The four pack of cans cost $22.20, seemingly the brewery’s high mark for this format.  Enjoyed out of a snifter glass.

Appearance: Poured a hazy golden/straw yellow body with a fizzy thin white head.

Smell: Reminiscent of a slightly sweet white wine with some hoppy bitterness lingering in the background.

Taste: Started out mellow and juicy with lightly sweet citrus zest coming in just before the pinot gris juice began to stand out.  The finish was dry, highlighted by more of the pinot gris and a moderate grassy hop bitterness that left a slight resinous aftertaste.  The beer settled in quite nicely as it sat in the glass with lime zest, grassy hops, and the added juice blending together seamlessly.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with pleasant little bubbles throughout.

Hype Factor: Elevated.  While the focus of its release day was no doubt Never & Again, there was some excitement around this offering as well.

Overall: Very good, where this beer really shined for me was in its balance and cohesion of flavors.  It showcased the added ingredient remarkably well and in way that enhanced the beer rather than merely push the flavor.  I think it’s pretty safe to say they nailed this one.

Trillium Brewing Company/Monkish Brewing Company – Never & Again

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Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, Monkish Brewing Company, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

I guess I kind of lucked out in having to work on Columbus/Native American Day, since I was downtown for another highly anticipated Trillium release.  Apparently I jinxed myself in the Sigtebrod review, though, as there was indeed a line for this beer when I showed up at the brewery.

Beer Name: Never & Again

Brewers: Trillium Brewing Company and Monkish Brewing Company

Style: DIPA

ABV: 8.5%

Description: Another Trillium collaboration brew, this time made in cahoots with California’s Monkish Brewing Company.  For a quick run-down, the beer was a double IPA aged on mangos and hopped with Columbus, Citra, Simcoe, and Amarillo.  Check out this link for the full story and specs.  The four-pack of cans cost $22.20 and came with a limit of two per customer.  That was on the higher end of what I am usually looking to spend, but I was curious to try this.

Appearance: One of the most interesting bodies I have come across yet, it looked like a super cloudy and murky glass of orange juice.  A thin yellow-tinted head formed as the beer poured but quickly dissipated.

Smell: Sweet tropical fruits with a little bit of heat on the end.

Taste: Started out tasting like orange and mango juice, but then a huge rush of bitter hops quickly took over the beer, giving it a sharp, spicy finish.  After letting it sit in the glass for 5-10 minutes, the beer happily mellowed out a little bit.  The juiciness became more pronounced and bitterness subdued somewhat, though it retained a spicy bite at the very end.  Honestly this beer tasted rather green to me and right out of the can it reminded me of my first time dry-hopping a homebrew with way too much Simcoe and tasting the hop-infused near-trub.

Mouthfeel: It had a thick juicy body that was nonetheless decently carbonated throughout the drinking experience.  I could also swear I felt the rawness of the hops numbing my throat after the first few sips, a sensation that went away as the beer warmed up.

Hype Factor: High, perhaps even sky-high.  This was a beer people had been anticipating for months and it drew a bit of a crowd.  As for myself, I’d been eager to try out Monkish for some time now and since I don’t really have the time or resources to get into trading this was my best chance to do so in the foreseeable future.  I will admit these initial expectations were tempered somewhat as I gave in to curiosity and read the initial highly polarized Untappd reviews, but knowing what a fickle lot us beer enthusiasts can be I took those with a grain of salt and kept an open mind.

Overall: Despite reading some of the initial reviews, I was not prepared for the intensity of the hops which hit like a roundhouse kick to the beard.  That said, I get the feeling underneath all that there is a good beer here, it’s just way overshadowed by that raw, off-balance finish.  Not sure if this extreme bitterness is a hallmark of Monkish or not, but I kind of wonder if maybe this got either over hopped (blasphemy!) somewhere along the line or released a bit too early.  Or maybe I just have sensitive taste buds.  I’m going to optimistically go with the reasoned consensus of reviewers and hope that more time in the can will do this beer some good.  I know how people feel about aging hop-forwards brews, but this one might be an exception.  Perhaps I’ll do an updated review in a month or so.

Trillium Brewing Company/Amager Bryghus – Sigtebrod

Tags

Amager Bryghus, Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Collaboration, Craft Beer, Denmark, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

A new Trillium brew and a slow day at work meant I once again took a walk to Fort Point on my lunch break for release day.  I can’t say enough how much I enjoy having them nearby, especially now that weekday lines seem to largely be a thing of the past.

Beer Name: Sigtebrod

Brewers: Trillium Brewing Company and Amager Byghus

Style: Double Dry-Hopped IPA

ABV: 6.8%

Description: A collaboration between Trillium and Danish brewers Amager Bryghus.  A detailed description of this beer can be found on Trillium’s website, but to summarize they created an IPA  inspired by Danish wheat bread.  To achieve this goal, they added wheat flour to the mash and added wildflower honey and tangerine peels for good measure before dry-hopping with Citra and Amarillo.  The four-pack of 16 oz. cans cost $20.20, on par with the rest of the Trillium’s dry-hopped offerings.  I drank the can for this review out of my usual snifter glass.

Appearance: Poured a light amber/yellowish body with a thin and frothy white head.

Smell: Trace amounts of sweetness; mostly citrus fruit and honey.

Taste: True to the inspiration, there was a noticeable presence of bready malts throughout, taking on a bit of a wheaty character about halfway through.  Also popping up around the halfway point was some of the aforementioned sweetness in the form of orange and tangerine juice.  The beer closed with a very dry, crackery malt finish featuring a honey-infused bit of heat joined by a lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Probably on the higher end of moderate, but there were times when it felt like the added honey gave this brew just a little extra bit of thickness.  Moderate carbonation kept the beer bubbly throughout.

Hype Factor: It’s from Trillium, not to mention another a collaboration, so there was definitely elevated excitement and some buzz surrounding this release.

Overall: A very good beer, it reminded me a bit of Artaic though with slightly more pronounced bready malt and slightly less honey,  I like how this beer had a different flavor profile than the usual juicy IPAs (not that there’s anything wrong with those), it’s just nice to see the brewery go in another direction on this.  I’m unfortunately not familiar with Amager Bryghus, so I wonder if some of that can be attributed to their influence.

Trillium Brewing Company – Little Rooster

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

I’m a bit late with this one, but last Friday we closed out the work week with our semi-traditional round of beer at the office.  Have I mentioned lately how lucky I feel having Trillium Brewing Company right down the street from us?  Also, random spoiler on an upcoming book review.

Beer Name: Little Rooster

Brewer: Trillium Brewing Company

Style: Pale Ale

ABV: 5.7%

Description: Listed as another installment of the brewery’s “Small Bird Series” of lower ABV offerings, you can check out the full details of this beer on the company website.  To give you a general idea, it was a pale ale hopped with Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin.  Not sure I consider something 5.7% “small” or “sessionable,” but who am I to argue?  We got a 64 oz. growler filled for $13 and made use of the office glassware.

Appearance: Poured a cloudy, pale straw-yellow body with a healthy amount of white foam that steadily fizzled away.

Smell: Very light, hints of citrus and fresh-scented hops.

Taste: Subdued sweetness upfront, highlighted by orange zest and kiwi.  Light bready malts and a hint of yeast come in towards the finish, as does a mild to moderate grassy bitterness.  The finish is also rather dry, allowing the hops to linger for a bit after the sip is over.

Mouthfeel: Super light, almost feels like the beer is floating in your mouth.  That said, there was a bit of a juicy quality here as well and some tingly little bubbles at the end.

Hype Factor: It’s Trillium!  Pretty fair to say that they’ve raised people’s expectation on just about everything they put on now.  

Overall: I thought this was a good, though not superlative, beer.  It didn’t blow me away like the rest of Trillium’s beers tend to, but that’s not to say there was necessarily anything wrong with it.  Maybe I’m just not that into Nelson hops?  Certainly worth trying, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for this alone.