Tree House Brewing Company
Tree House Brewing Company wasn’t even on my radar until probably about a year ago. I know I’m behind the times on that one but I only recently moved back to the northeast so truthfully I just wasn’t as aware of the breweries up here. Once I moved to Long Island though, I really started to take notice and it seems like Tree House is all I see on social media now.
Actual Tree House beers aside, it seems like half of the posts I scroll through on Instagram feature some kind of Tree House merchandise. So, several months ago, I decided to plan a trip, I wasn't sure when, and I didn't really start planning until a few weeks ago, I just knew I had to taste some of those deliciously hazy IPAs.
The Planning
Now, my wife will be the first one to tell you, I'm not a planner. I much prefer to fly by the seat of my pants and figuring things out as I go along. Having never really looked much into the legend that was Tree House Brewery, I had no concept of how to get my hands on their beer beyond knowing that I had to get myself to the brewery.
I started planning a weekend trip around the brewery visit and researching nearby hotels assuming that if we had a few beers at the brewery, we probably wouldn't want to make the three-hour drive back home. If you've been to Tree House, I'm sure you've already caught the flaw in my initial plan... You can't drink at the brewery, you can only pick up cans and occasionally growlers. So my plan pivoted, I no longer needed a weekend, just a day, so I took off work last Friday and convinced some coworkers to do the same.
I'm happy to report that I did take some time to do the necessary research and put together an actual plan for the day. I even did a "trial" run the week before. Because Tree House's beer is in such high demand, they're constantly brewing new batches that sell out almost as fast as they're able to can them. To help patrons keep up with the rapidly changing lineup, Tree House updates their website every morning before they open, and also post updates on Twitter in real-time.
In order to get a sense of what we were in for, the Friday before our trip, I followed the website and Twitter feed all day to see when they posted their daily line-up, if they would open early, and also learned that because of crowd size, we probably wouldn't be able to get growlers filled. I even googled a few blog posts detailing other people's experiences to be sure I wouldn't come home empty-handed. Needless to say, the anticipation was building quickly and I was excited to hit the road.
The Trip
On the day of, my friends met me in Freeport for a quick breakfast before starting the drive. I won't bore you too much with the details of the drive but I was surprised at how quickly it went. Even after hitting a few patches of traffic, it seemed like we were in MA in no time. Having never been there before, we were a little confused pulling up to the brewery.
We'd kept up with Twitter early on to scope out the daily limits but hadn't seen any other information. We were a bit surprised when we pulled up to a dirt lot that was marked "Lot Full" despite only having 2-3 cars. We saw a few people standing around loading coolers into their trunks so we assumed we were in the right place.
Tree House Brewing Company
Once we'd parked we saw a few people walking across the street and quickly spied the Tree House sign. We also realized that we'd definitely parked in an overflow lot but by this point, we were too excited to turn around to move the car.
We were still in a bit of disbelief as we approached the brewery itself because there was no line. There were a few people milling about outside but no one seemed to be in a rush. We were even more surprised as we walked into the brewery and were able to walk right up to one of the staff members and snag our beer.
They had boxes pre-filled with the daily limit of beer so the three of us just had to walk up, show our ID, grab one of the boxes, and swipe a card to complete the purchase. We were in and out in under 5 minutes. Merchandise was another story... We probably spent 20 minutes looking over all of the options before selecting our desired glassware, stickers, and coolers (all priced incredibly reasonably by the way)!
The Beer (and the BBQ!)
As I mentioned, you're not able to drink at the brewery but there are a couple of nearby BYOB options. We'd read about B.T.'s Smokehouse on the Tree House website, and after flipping a coin, we decided to give it a shot.
I can't believe we left that decision up to chance. All three of us have roots in the south and we have definitely missed good BBQ since moving to Long Island. B.T.'s Smokehouse is exactly what we needed, a small restaurant next to a gas station with plenty of meat, sides, and most importantly, sauces. It was the perfect spot to have opened our first cans of Julius IPA
It's hard to describe that first sip of Tree House Beer. It's something I'd been waiting for for months so my expectations were high. Maybe it was all of the hype surrounding the beer, I'm sure the building anticipation influenced my senses a bit, but damn if that first sip wasn't one of the best beers I've tasted. The only similar experience I can remember was my first time trying Heady Topper from Alchemist Brewing.
There's nothing so inherently different about these beers, they just taste so "fresh." That's the only way I can think to describe it. As soon as you open the can, Julius is bursting with a floral aroma packed with citrus notes chased by an equally complex and juicy first sip that packs a punch of tropical flavors. I'm already trying to figure out the next day I can get away to Monson, Massachusetts to grab another stash!
Heading Home
So, we drank our beers, ate our BBQ, and got back on the road home. Maybe it was the exhaustion of the day, but the trip home felt much longer than the drive there. We also hit a fair amount of traffic heading back towards New York which didn't help, and we had one pit stop to make along the way. Wanting to take some killer photos of our newly acquired beer, I scoped out a waterfront park on the drive back that was just off the interstate.
After stopping, we spent 10-15 minutes taking pictures, but then hung around a while to walk on the beach and watch the sunset. It was here that we looked back on the trip and asked the most important question of the day. "Was it worth it?"
We'd spent over six hours in the car driving through intermittent traffic, and each only walked away with a total of eight pints of beer. We also, however, took a day off work, belted out some classic NSYNC, had some amazing BBQ, and gotten to watch the sunset on the water. We used to take a lot of road trips as kids, and I couldn't help but remember the wise words of my stepdad, "it's about the journey, not the destination."
One reason I love craft beer is because of the laid back culture it often represents, kicking back at a brewery with your friends. Don't get me wrong, I love the beers we got from Tree House beer, but I had such an amazing time making the trip up to Massachusetts with a few friends.
If you're anywhere in the area, I can't recommend Tree House Brewing enough, and I'm happy to help you make plans if, like me, you have no idea what to expect once you get there. It was an awesome journey, and I can't wait to finish my current stash so I can make plans to get back there.
Cheers!