#NationalBeerDay
My first blog post, and I'm setting the bar about as high as possible. So may all follow. I had occasion to take a much-appreciated day off last Thursday, and ventured out to Monson to visit the legendary Tree House Brewing Company. It did not disappoint in the slightest (insert shocked face emoji).
For those who aren't familiar with Tree House Brewing, they were established in 2011 and focus on freshness, quality, and consistency of their batches. Their beers are available (cans and growlers) only at their retail shop in Monson, although they are opening a new brewery in Charlton that's projected to begin operations in 2017. They are considered one of the best breweries in the country, with several of their beers ranking in the BeerAdvocate Top 250 Beers list, including their Good Morning beer at Number One.
I fully expected a mad rush on what ironically turned out to be National Beer Day, one of many recently self-styled holidays that make hashtag-users happy. Fortunately, the rain seemed to keep the crowd from getting too rowdy. My friend and I arrived half an hour early and Tree House was already bustling. But the Tree House crew runs a tight ship and we had our cans in under 10 minutes and 2 growlers apiece in another half hour.
We took our haul to nearby BT's Smokehouse, in Sturbridge. This BYOB meat mecca was the perfect second exclamation point to our total joy at uncorking the first of our growlers and pouring some fresh, fluffy Green ales into a pair of tulip glasses we had with us. 'Fluffy' might sound like an odd choice of words to describe a beer, but I find the adjective to be on point. Unlike many IPAs, this particular beer leaves no trace of hoppy after-taste. You get a wave of freshness and juice on the first pass, with notes of bitterness in the second sequence, ending like dissipating cotton candy on your tongue. Fluffy.
Pork plates and chicken wings and the smell of smoked meat in the air and World Class Beer in our glasses. "Chewie, we're home."
My Recommendation: check this place out as soon as you can. The beer is complex, fresh, and delicious. Truly special. There are no samples available, so just load up on your limit (typically you are allowed X amount of cans based on the output of their canning run that day and whatever is leftover from the day before) and 1 2L Growler or 2 750MLs. My advice would be to visit during a week day if you can; take the day off, enjoy western MA, and get there before they open. Check their hours and the On Tap section (listed in my directory) to find out what they're canning. Happy hunting!
The Haul:
8 cans of Bright Double IPAs
2 cans of Green (ranked #20 on the BA 250 List)
2 cans of Alter Ego (ranked #34 on the BA 250 List)
1 750ML growler of Green
1 750 ML growler of Alter Ego
I'll be back, Tree House.