Tree House Brewing Company
So it’s been a fair while since my last post. Work, lockdowns, and various other life forces have drawn my focus elsewhere. But as of now, the blog is officially back and I’ll be resuming weekly posts from here on out. Now, all that being said, the blog is making its return this week with a bang with a triple-beer review! For my birthday this year, my sister and brother-in-law in the States procured for me three of the absolute best beers I’ve ever tasted. They’re not easy to get your hands on, even on that side of the Pacific. But they are three fantastic juicy, hazy IPA’s: the Super Treat, Mega Treat, and Juice Machine all from Massachusetts’ Tree House Brewing Company.
If we’re being totally honest, each of these beers more than deserve their own individual blog posts. They’re easily that good. But one of the main goals of this blog is to recommend good beers to try to track down here in Australia. And frankly, finding any of these is not gonna be easy. If you do find one, it shouldn’t take a few extra paragraphs of my fumbling prose to convince you. Just buy it. Doesn’t matter how much they’re asking. Thank me later.
Anyway, at some point in this post I suppose I should probably start talking about the beers themselves.
The first one I cracked was the Super Treat. First impression is the can is really freaking cool looking. That means very little if the beer is crap (spoiler alert, it’s not). But a good can design can go a long way (more than you’d think) for the overall beer drinking experience. The beer itself was predictably brilliant. It strikes that perfect (but elusive) balance of super hoppy, but delicate and soft. It’s like drinking a hoppy cloud, with a bit of citrus zest grated over the top. I will say, the initial taste is a bit sweeter than I would’ve expected and generally like. But my overall reaction was ‘oh this is a bit sweet, I don’t know if I’m going to… nope, nope, it’s ok, this is actually completely delicious’.
The next cab off the rank was the Mega Treat. As you might have suspected from the names, this one is basically the Super Treat kicked up a couple of notches in every way. The can is just a little bit cooler and the hops are actually a fair bit hoppier. But that same softness, balance, and feeling of every single one of your tastebuds being enveloped in hoppy bliss is still right there. And that one knock I had on the Super Treat (the slightly sweet initial taste) is completely absent in the Mega Treat. It’s just a brilliant brilliant all-around beer.
And last, but definitely not least, is the Juice Machine. And here’s where I’ve painted myself into a corner a little bit. As effusive as I was in my praise of the Super Treat and especially the Mega Treat, Juice Machine is even better. It may be because I’m a bit rusty at this, or maybe just that I wasn’t all that eloquent to begin with, but I’m seriously struggling for words to describe how good this beer is. It’s got everything that the Super and Mega Treats have, but with an extra strong citrusy bite. But, because the good people at Tree House are just awesome at what they do, this extra citrusy kick somehow doesn’t rides right in next to the hoppiness, the juiciness, and the softness and maintains an utterly perfect balance.
I slowly sipped this beer over the course of an hour. Being mindful of how wanky it sounds, drinking a beer like this is an experience. It was a hoppy, blissful experience. Those Tree House folks seriously know what they’re doing.
If I had to rank them, it definitely goes Juice Machine #1, Mega Treat #2, and Super Treat #3. But really, if you are lucky enough to spot any of these Tree House beers, just get it and count yourself lucky. I know I certainly do. I’m super grateful that I’ve got people who not only tracked down these killer beers, but got them express posted across an ocean to make sure I was able to enjoy them at their best.