(C) 2016 popsonhops
Trillium was our second stop of the road trip and we arrived at their Canton location right on schedule. Funny, the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp tour bus was parked in front but we didn’t ask any questions. We were on a mission.
1. Night Shift Brewing in Everett, MA by 11:30,
2. Trillium in Canton, MA by 12:30,
3. Jack’s Abbey in Framingham, MA by 2:30
4. Treehouse in Monson, MA by 3:30
5. New England Brewing in Woodbridge, CT by 7:00.
We were off to the new tasting room open. The tasting room offers 5 ounce or 10 ounce pours with a maximum of 20 ounces. They stamp a card to keep track of your allotment. A 5 ounce of Dialed In convinced me to up my purchase to six bottles and my 5 ounce pour of Galaxy Fort Point Pale Ale convinced me that I have good taste in beer. One minor disappointment was that Artaic was listed on the draft list but was long gone. Next time.
(C) 2016 popsonhops
The lineup of beer available was exceptional. The photo looks like the Mount Rushmore of Trillium offerings. Double Dry-Hopped Congress Street currently ranks a perfect score on Beer Advocate and checks in at #35 on the Beer Advocate Top 250 beer ranking. Meanwhile Galaxy Dry Hopped Fort Point also has a perfect score and currently ranks # 44 on the same list. I’ll also note: Heavy Mettle # 112, Vicinity # 150, Dialed In # 202. It’s an all-star list and I’m happy to have a combined two cases to take me through July.
Double Dry-Hopped Congress Street
Tasting: June 29, 2016
Style: American IPA
Beer # 974
ABV:7.2%
A tropical aroma fills the room (or at least the general vicinity) when I pour this cloudy IPA into my snifter. It really looks like orange juice. Right out of the gate is that trademarked Trillium pillowy soft mouthfeel with loads of complexity. There’s tropical fruit sweetness of mango and pineapple, mellow bitter of an orange rind with some grassiness. It all rounds out to a crisp finish. Amazing beer 97 points.
From the brewery:
MALT: American 2-row Barley, White Wheat, C-15, Dextrine, Dextrose
HOPS: Galaxy, Columbus
read my thoughts on the base beer Congress Street – 95 Points
Heavy Mettle
Tasting: June 30, 2016
Style: Imperial (plus) IPA
Beer # 975
ABV:9.3%
I have been looking forward to the day when I could crack open this beer. Over the last couple of years, the trade market was dry and as recently as the morning of our road trip, Heavy Mettle was was still listed on the “coming soon” list at the brewery. Seeing it available was very exciting.
Mettle is already an imperial IPA with an ABV of 8.4% so seeing it kicked up to 9.3% in Heavy Mettle peaked my interest. Same opaque cloudy pour and bursting aroma. Really dank raw green, smokey, pot-like and a really nice tart-pineapple sweetness to carry the load. As usual has wonderful fullness. Booziness is well-concealed. Actually, not hint of it at all. Not sure how many more superlatives I can heap on Trillium. 96 points.
read my thoughts on Mettle – 94 points
Dialed-In
Tasting: June 18, 2016
Style: Double IPA
Beer # 976
ABV: 8.5%
It’s just a broken record with me telling you about the awesomeness of this brewery. Dialed-In was their third anniversary offering released earlier this year and this version contains some tweaks to the recipe. As far as I can tell, they’ve substituted Sauvignon Blanc grape juice with Chardonnay grape juice and Galaxy hops in place of another New Zealand hop – Nelson Sauvin. Here’s the description of Dialed-In from the brewery’s website:
This iteration of Dialed In is a fresh, juicy Double IPA intensively dry hopped with Galaxy and Citra. Pouring a vibrant, hazy gold; aromas of white wine, tropical fruit, and citrus swirl around the nose. Upfront flavors of grassy hop, orange juice, and pineapple coincide with vinous notes from the mid-fermentation addition of Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer juice. Soft and creamy with moderate bitterness; Medium-Light bodied with a crisp, dry finish.
Love the idea of wine grape addition and loved the sample in the tasting room enough to up my purchase from 4 bottles to 6. Right up front, pillowy, pithy orange rind, not as much juiciness as other offerings. The white wine takes over mid-palate and it rounds to more of a crip wine finish. 93 points.
This image is from my photo archive. I just can’t get over what beautiful beer comes from Trillium.
© 2015 popsonhops DDH Fort Point
I’ve previously reviewed Galaxy Dry Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale and Vicinity previously. Read my thoughts here:
Trillium Galaxy Dry Hopped Fort Point – 97 Points
Trillium Vicinity – 96 Points
