Brewery Trip! Trillium Brewing Company

Trillium has long been one of my favorite breweries and when I heard of their plans to move to a new location in Canton I was filled with mixed emotions. First I was excited to see what the new location would bring and what it would look like. However, I was a little sad. I had been to the original Canton location more times that I can count and it played host to countless memories, even though most of them involved waiting in line. Between new friends and amazing beers this new location had a lot to live up to and let me tell you… it does.

One of the first things you notice pulling up to the new Trillium is how massive the facility is. Between the outdoor patio, restaurant, and bar location it is significantly larger than the previous location. While the restaurant was closed when I visited the menu looked delicious and gave us something to look forwards to. Upon walking in the front doors you see some of the smaller tanks and a large rack of barrels which just fills you with excitement for those future offerings. There is ample room to sit and a few areas with couches for groups as you make your way to the bar. There are dedicated lines for both pours and cans with the can area being self-serve which I have never seen at a brewery. Additionally, you can place an online order for cans and then pick them up at the end of the visit.

I only got one pour while I was there which was ‘Weather Observatory’ and it was fantastic, it was just a quick trip for cans of ‘Plane Over Car Over Train Over Boat’, ‘Middle Aged Genius’, and a smattering of other cans/bottles. The main reason I went was because after being open for nearly a year I still had not made the trip to visit. Now that I have been, I cannot wait to go back.   

New Brew Thursday: 'Middle Aged Genius' from Trillium and Bissel Brothers

I recently made the trip back to one of my favorite breweries in the world, Trillium. Now, while I was able to visit the Fenway location a few months back I had not been to the new Canton location and let me tell you it didn’t disappoint (thanks Freddy Foreshadowing for the next post) as it was beautiful. I made the trip so I could not only visit this amazing brewery but so I could also try the newest collaboration between Trillium and Bissel Brothers, something I look forward to each year and this year with ‘Middle Aged Genius’ it was another smash success.

‘Middle Aged Genius’ pours into the glass a hazy yellow with a small white head. it has notes of sweet tropical fruit that battle each other for nostril supremacy with none able to gain the upper hand that leads to a rich, sweet, and citrusy aroma. The taste is fantastic. While it has been awhile since I have had ‘Baby Genius’ it’s significantly older counterpart amplifies everything I loved about it. ‘Middle Aged Genius’ has a rich mouthfeel that coats the entire palate with a rich, creamy, and citrus flavor with a sliding scale of bitterness that starts at the tip of the tongue and mellows to the middle. Clocking in at a respectable 7% ABV you’ll be able to finish the glass and open a second… or third.

"New" Brew Thursday: 'Dusk Trill Dawn' from Trillium and Evil Twin

The year is 2016, after months of studying and three days in hell I finally finished taking the bar exam. I have about one more month living in Boston and now with ample free time, I do not know what to do with it. While going for Pokemon Go walks, hitting the gym, sleeping, and just generally relaxing were my day-to-day musts, it was hitting up some of my favorite spots that really made me happy. One of those spots was Trillium. In their old space there was no room for on-site pours, so it was a strict to-go operation. It was there, in the dead of the August heat, I visited to pick up two imperial stouts. A bottle of ‘Outside The Lines’ and a howler of ‘Dusk Trill Dawn’ because that was the only way it was being offered. I remember it being one of the best stouts I had ever had and always wanted to try it again. Nearly five years later… I got my wish.

‘Dusk Trill Dawn’ pours into the glass a dark, almost obsidian black with a brown head. It has extraordinarily strong notes of coffee, chocolate, and malt that all blend and play off one another as well. The taste is just how I remembered, amazing. A thick and luxurious mouthfeel that coats the entire palate with an initial hit of chocolate that then gives way to an overpowering coffee flavor that lingers on the tongue well after it is gone. Despite being 12.6% ABV it is not overly boozy and hits just right.

In all, ‘Dusk Trill Dawn’ was just the thing I needed to satisfy my Boston nostalgia. Reminding me of one of my favorite stouts from one of my favorite breweries.

New Brew Thursday: 'Barrel Aged Color & Grain' from Trillium Brewing

It is that magical time of year again folks. The days are getting a little shorter and colder with that unmistakable crispness in the air. We all know what that means, we have officially entered into Stout Season (or Szn as the kids say). While I have always been an avid supporter of not letting the season dictate the style of beer you drink, I would be hard pressed to say that I do not enjoy stouts just a bit more this time of year. I recently went back to my parents house where I keep a small box of cellared bottles (more on that in a future post) and picked out one of the perfect bottles to kick off Stout Season, ‘Barrel Aged Color & Grain’ from Trillium. To be completely honest, I forgot exactly when I bought the beer, but I think it was in the cellar for about a year and a half. While I might have let it go just a bit too long, it is still an awesome beer.

‘Barrel Aged Color & Grain’ pours into the glass pitch-black with a darkish brown head. Its notes are mostly just boozy chocolate with a slight hint of vanilla and toffee on the back end. I expect the chocolate, vanilla, and toffee notes would have been more pronounced when first purchased. However, after over a year in the cellar they have been slightly muted. The flavor is purely decadent. A soft, velvety mouthfeel with a rich chocolate and toffee taste that lingers just long enough on the front of the tongue. While the listed ABV is 13.9% after over a year in the cellar it is probably close to 15%. This gives the beer a boozy, but not overpowering kick that is just enough to remind you that you are drinking a barrel aged, imperial stout. While no longer in production, if you’ve got one in the cellar now is the perfect time to open it up.

"New" Brew Thursday: 'Max Headroom' (2020) from Trillium

 Happy *belated*Headroom Day everyone! This year, Headroom Day was this past Saturday. For the uninitiated, Headroom Day is Trillium’s annual release of ‘Headroom,’ which is an insanely hopped double IPA that evolves each year as Trillium tries to push the boundaries and create something special. Typically, we get about a day or two of advanced notice of this beautiful occasion, however those sneaks over at Trillium pulled a fast one announcing it at 12:01am the day of on social media. Waking up on Saturday morning with that announcement was just like waking up on Christmas Morning as a child, but even better since it was completely out of the blue. What made this even better was the return of ‘Max Headroom.’ First introduced last year ‘Max Headroom’ is an even more amped up version of ‘Headroom’ that pushes those boundaries even further. Typically, Headroom Day involves getting to Trillium a couple hours before opening to ensure your can purchase. However, due to COVID-19 and online ordering I just purchased the beer online and drove up to the brewery to pick it up. It does take the fun out of Headroom Day as making friends in the can line is a rite of passage, but I will take a five-minute wait for cans on Headroom Day eleven times out of ten.

‘Max Headroom’ pours a hazy and almost florescent yellow into the glass with a bright white head. It has strong notes of fresh pineapple and citrus with subtle tropical notes. The duality of ‘Max Headroom’ is that its appearance is very much attributed to the Galaxy hops while its aromas are more attributed to the Mosaic. Both working together where the drinker looks at the beer, smells it, and then looks at it again in almost disbelief. It has a rich tropical and citrus flavor with a thick and luxurious mouthfeel that coats the entire palate and a slight lingering bitterness with all the hops working together in perfect harmony. With an ABV of 9.1% it is not overly boozy and just a phenomenal beer.  I hope this means that ‘Max Headroom’ will be a permanent fixture for next year and many years to come.    

New Brew Thursday: 'Luxurious Tiles' from Trillium and Bissell Brothers

Two of my favorite breweries are Trillium and Bissell Brothers. so when they collaborated for ‘Luxurious Tiles’ I knew I had to have it. It is well documented that I love collaboration beers and both ‘Lux’ and ‘Cutting Tiles’ are two fantastic beers in their own right. With ‘Lux’ having a great lightness and taste from the mosaic hops with a soft bite from the rye and ‘Cutting Tiles’ having an amazing sweetness from the raw wildflower honey right from the start my hopes were high.

‘Luxurious Tiles’ pours a very hazy and deep yellow into the glass with a light white head. It has incredibly sweet notes that to me smell like candied oranges. This is really where the ‘Cutting Tiles’ portion of the beer shines and the taste is fantastic. A rich mouthfeel with great balance between sweetness and bitterness. The combination between the mosaic hops and the wildflower honey gives the beer an awesome juiciness and sweetness. It finishes with a soft bitterness that slightly builds. ‘Luxurious Tiles’ is definitely more ‘Cutting Tiles’ than ‘Lux’ but it is absolutely amazing

My Favorite Beer

I routinely talk about most beers/breweries in the terms of them being "one of my favorites." However,  I have always said that my absolute favorite beer is 'Heavy Mettle' from Trillium. I have said before that IPAs are my favorite style and this double IPA is everything that I love in an good IPA. I love everything there is to love about this beer. I love the artwork on the can, I love the way it pours in a glass, I love the way it looks in that glass, I love the way it smells, and I love its mouthfeel. I love this beer and every time Trillium brews it and posts it to their Instagram it makes my day. 

The artwork on the can is clean and simple, the same logo that also appears on the 'Mettle' cans on the far left with the name prominently displayed in the dead center of the can. It pours into the glass almost like a nitro beer as it cascades down the glass with the head that is white as fresh snow. Its bright-yellow, hazy appearance in the glass that really showcases the dry-hopped Galaxy hop look that is a thing of pure beauty. Then when the can is rolled and the sediment at the bottom of the can is poured into the glass and gives the beer a darker, yellow hue while keeping the bright-white head. The incredibly sweet, citrus notes it gives off to entices you to take a sip like a cartoon pie on a windowsill and then that first sip. Even though it has an ABV of 9.3%  the mouthfeel is amazingly light and does not suffer from an overly heavy and boozy that most IPAs with that percentage do. The initial taste that really showcases those Galaxy hops so full of citrus with an incredibly bitter finish that can only come from the Amarillo hops that lingers on your tongue long after the beer is gone. However on that next sip you still get that full hit of Galaxy with the same light mouthfeel but the bitterness from the Amarillo, the bitterness from that previous sip, just amplifies each time. It it THE definitive pallet wrecker. 

If you like devastatingly hoppy  IPAs with a bitter finish then this is your beer. What is your favorite beer? Let me know below.