One of the first suggestions I received from new friends when I moved to Connecticut from the Midwest in August of 2013 was, “go to Tree House.” Like many other young people who have busy work schedules, I always found a reason to put off taking a quick drive to Massachusetts on an early Saturday to give it a try. This past December I was lucky enough to hitch a ride with a couple friends on a cool, sunny morning, and it was totally worth it.

This place is really a joy. They have set hours that you can find on their website, and you better get there early to line up. You can buy cans of beer as long as they have them, and can get a limited number of growlers. You also can check what’s on tap before you get there. Since it was my first time, I tried two of the beers that are staples, and had been highly recommended to me: Green, and Julius.

Julius is described on Tree House’s website as “freakishly drinkable,” and that’s right on. It smells juicy and almost has a refreshing aroma of the outdoors. When Julius hits your mouth all you taste is wonderful, mango-y fruit. It develops a full, bitter flavor as it rolls down your tongue. The best thing about Julius is that it leaves you with a unique citrus-y after taste, and makes for a light end to a full flavor. Julius floats away gracefully, leaving you wanting to have another big sip every time.

Green looks good at first glance. It appears beautifully golden and cloudy. You can tell before you even take a drink that this is going to be a quality experience. You’ll even read later on that Green gets its name from the initial batch in which, post boil, the wort looked green from so much hop particulate floating around. If you like hops – you’ll like this. Green is full of both American and Australian hops making the bitter, citrus flavor wonderfully unique. It starts with hops, ends with hops, and leaves you full, in case you wanted a meal.

Tree House has a bunch of other wonderful beers you can snatch up assuming you get there in time. Find out more about Tree House on their website, or on Twitter @TreeHouseBrewCo.