Had a nice little drive out to Mass this weekend to check out how some of my favorite breweries and butcher are doing. A way too short visit to Tree House’s new location in Monson, followed by my first stop at Trillium, picking up some growlers and the last of the Barrel Society bottles at Night Shift then rounding out the trip with SausageFest at The Meat Market, all before getting home in time for AJ’s 30th birthday. Let’s dive into the pics shall we?
(A caution to my fellow Android/Google Maps users: a search for Tree House does resolve to the new location, but when you go to navigate there it will still try to send you to the old Brimfield location. Make sure you type in the new street address until that’s fixed.)
The new building on Koran’s Farm went up quickly and Tree House folks have already started to give the building that homey feel the previous barn had. The fireplace and guitars make their return, with reclaimed wood accents being used where it can. The space is bigger now, allowing more people to wait inside for their fills although I’m hoping for a return of the outdoor firepit and gazebo for warm weather.
The brew house now lives in a building separate from the retail shop, with a lot more room to move around than the previous one, possibly room for one more fermentor as well.
Like I said earlier, it was way too short of a visit. With my growlers filled with Tesse, Tornado and That’s What She Said, I was on my way. I’ll be back with Elise and Kuma in tow soon, I’m sure.
Next up was Trillium Brewing. Having had their Fort Point Pale Ale and Congress St. IPA on tap at Lord Hobo and Armsby Abbey, I was looking forward to grabbing some growlers to bring back to Capital Region friends. Their beer supply had been crushed over the holidays and they only had a few beers on tap for fills on Saturday. They were even closed for part of the week to make more beer, so I’m glad I took home my fill of Broken Halo, Congress St., and the Farmhouse Ale (and, as always #properglassware).
Reclaimed wood is another theme here, this time on steroids. The bar acquired from a nearby construction site is drool worthy to say the least. Same goes for the wood that lines the walls and is behind the taps.
Recently they started serving two ounce samples, something they were unable to do since opening. The bar area is long but no more than two people deep, more than adequate for the amount of people doing tastings and grabbing growlers this weekend.
After Trillium it was a short trip to Night Shift for some Art growler fills and to pick up extra Barrel Society bottles. I couldn’t leave without grabbing a glass of Brett-heavy Art #17.
And the last stop was The Meat Market’s Sausagefest for a perfect way to end a rainy trip. The Beer & Bacon was an obvious choice, but I also wanted to try something a little different, so I opted for the Lamb Merguez. The smokey house bacon and rauchbier sausage was served on a roll along with red onion, roasted potatoes and another addition of bacon. The intensely spiced merguez was paired with a pita with mint and harissa yogurt. I couldn’t eat another bite, but if I could, the Smoked Habanero Chicken sounded amazing.
And from there it back to Albany for AJ’s birthday activities. Pretty awesome haul of beers we’ve been enjoying all this week. See ya next time Massachusetts!
matthew 'fuj' scher 
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