This week’s Thirsty Thursday drink is a Treehouse Brewing Company drink, Bright, one of its American style Double India Pale Ale. (Thirsty Thursday/The Daily Campus)
If you have ever asked a craft beer enthusiast about their favorite brewery, chances are you’ve heard of Treehouse Brewing Company. While New England has its fair share of microbreweries, none are as consistently incredible as Treehouse. This week, I managed to get my hands on Bright, one of Treehouse’s American style Double India Pale Ales (DIPA).
I say “managed to get my hands on” because this beer isn’t easy to find. Treehouse has no distribution, meaning that you will need to visit their location in Charlton, Massachusetts in order to purchase any of their offerings. The brewery is only a 30-minute drive from UConn, but once you get there its possible you could spend up to two hours waiting in line depending on the time of day. Treehouse does post frequent line updates and the type of beer being sold on their Twitter account, @TreeHouseBrewCo. The hassle is more than worth it, because this is the best brewery in New England, and possibly the entire East Coast.
Now onto Bright. This DIPA has long been on Treehouse’s rotating list of offerings. In addition to the original Bright, the Mosaic hop version featured in this review, Treehouse offers variations featuring different types of hops, such as Nelson Sauvin or the wildly popular Citra hops.
Everything about this beer is enticing. Cracking the tab on this beer rewards you with a mouthwatering aroma of grapefruit and orange. Off the pour, an airy white head forms, which quickly fades to a sticky lace around the glass. The color is deep gold, with noticeable carbonation.
My high expectations for this beer were not misplaced. A refreshing bit of carbonation backed by a smooth finish make for creamy and mild mouthfeel. Grapefruit, wild berries and papaya compose the fruit-forward initial taste of this beer. Strong Mosaic flavor makes up the hop profile, carrying the fruity flavor into a healthy dose of bitterness. An extremely light cracker and honey malt is hardly noticeable, with hops and fruit dominating the flavor. The smooth finish leaves almost no aftertaste, making for an easily drinkable beer despite its nature as a hop-heavy, 7.8 percent ABV DIPA.
This beer is a bit of a departure from Treehouse’s normal offerings. Generally speaking, Treehouse specializes in raw, unfiltered brews, rather than this clean and bright style. As a result, the malt and yeast profiles are rather limited, but the explosive hop flavor keeps things interesting. Fans of IPAs will love this beer, and the fruit heavy taste makes it possible that those who generally stay away from hoppy brews could find something to love in Bright.
Bright really is incredible. While it may not be the best beer I have had from Treehouse, it is leagues ahead of most other New England-brewed beers. This statement holds true for every Treehouse beer I have had. There is a good reason people wait in line for hours to get a hold of Treehouse beers. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.
Rating: 4.5
Will Harris is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at will.harris@uconn.edu.
