Are you doing a dry month? It’s time to end that right now!
Every time the ball drops in Times Square—once the hangover ends, anyway—people decide to change their lives for the better. Everyone gets a gym membership, picks up yoga, throws out their deep fryer or buys a bunch of self help books. We’ve all been there. Some people decide to quit drinking for a month. I haven’t been there yet though, lol. Anyway, whatever your resolution, people say they are meant to be broken. Trillium Brewing Company’s imperial stout, Resolution Break, encouraged beer drinkers to stop being so damn good, and start quenching their damn thirst.
Trillium released this beer on January 27, just 4 days before the end of most people’s dry month resolutions. Kinda mean, right? It’s no longer available, which means the glass you see on that makeshift Windowsill at Trillium’s Canton location—it’s actually the part of the door that you push to open—is probably one of the last ones poured. I got mine on February 8.
So what made the Resolution Break worthy of breaking a dry month resolution? Waffles. 500 lbs of liege-style waffles (a thicker, richer and chewier style of the Belgian specialty), which Trillium got from Burgundian Coffee & Waffles. To top it all off, Trillium threw in some of their own branded coffee, which they developed with the help of their regular local collaboration partner Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. Did I mention the lactose and vanilla, too?
Do I even have to tell you how good this beer is? It wasn’t as good as the Peanut Butter Cup, but it was pretty damn good! Here’s hoping they bring it back some day.
Head over to Instagram to check out the other Trillium brews I’ve had lately!
Trillium Brewing Company makes some pretty badass beers on their own, so I like to think they choose their collaboration partners extremely carefully. That’s why when I saw today’s brew on the available list at Trillium Canton, I knew I had to have it.
This bin is definitely brimming with grapes, just like the beer! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The Brimming Bin is a collaboration between Trillium and New Jersey’s Carton Brewing Company. Carton was started in 2011 by cousins Augie and Chris Carton, and is located in the Jersey Shore. They’ve been fist pumping out the good beers since then, and are known for their signature orange and white cans.
The Brimming Bin is a very interesting beer. It’s an American Wild Ale aged on both Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc grapes. It’s slightly sour, and very fizzy. Because of the grapes, I got a pretty nice white wine type flavor and dryness from it. Really pretty color, and a pretty hefty ABV for a Wild Ale! It’s brimming with flavor, crisp and refreshing too.
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It’s Friday, so let’s get wild with a wild farmhouse ale on the Windowsill!
The Lineage Wheat was the original release from Trillium Brewing Company’s Lineage series of wild saisons. I typically would name them all, but there have been so many, that I’ll be here all weekend. Back in September, I was lucky enough to pick up a few bottles of the Raspberry Lineage Wheat, though. That one was delicious. So how was the O.G. Lineage Wheat?
You know it’s fancy, because the letters are in cursive! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Well, Trillium made it. So you know the answer to that. It was awesome! Three types of malt combine with US Goldings hops to make a tart—not sour—saison that really refreshes the palate. It was super crisp and bright, a little bit white wine-ish, with a solid funky taste and a nice, dry finish. Good character added by the oak aging, too!
So far, this series is two-for-two for me. Have you had any of them? Let me know in the comments below!
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A quality brew has run aground on my Windowsill today!
If you know a little something about lighthouses, you know that New England is full of really beautiful ones. Trillium Brewing Company, always ones to puff their NE chests out and exhibit pride for this area of the country, have been honoring some of the best lighthouses in New England with a very cool series of beers named, appropriately enough, the Lighthouse Series. Thus far, there have been five of these releases: the Nauset Lighthouse, Butler Flats Lighthouse, Gay Head Lighthouse, Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse and today’s beer, the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse. The series isn’t just designed to showcase a particular New England lighthouse, though. They also each let a specific hop do all the work.
Check out this coaster! Head to Instagram to find out where I got it! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
On Saturday, when I visited Trillium’s Canton location, they had the Cape Elizabeth on tap. It’s a Juicy, Hazy IPA brewed with Citra hops. It’s actually an iteration on the Marblehead Lighthouse, which was retired, tweaked and renamed because the brewery was made aware of another beer with the same name. I can’t say enough about how good this one was. Really awesome work on these NEIPAs from Trillium. Perfect for a foggy night. Or any night, really. Or the day.
The namesake lighthouse for this delicious beer is located in Casco Bay, Maine. It was built in 1874, and is nearly 70 feet high. Might be one I have to visit one day!
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In a world where hoppy ales and oily stouts rule the roost, sometimes it’s nice to get back with a classic!
I don’t often drink pilsners, but when I do, I make sure it’s from a brewery that knows what it’s doing. My last two have been Trail Magic, from Tree House Brewing Company, and what you see on my sill today: the aptly named Pilsner, from Trillium Brewing Company.
Crisp and classy label on these classic cans of Pilsner! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
This Pilsner is, as Trillium puts it on the official description, “the result of a continued, iterative focus on lager brewing.” What does that mean? Well, iteration means repetition, but with improvements every time. That’s how digital products—think apps, software, etc.—are released. You get the minimum viable product on the market, and then you release updates. In beer terms, this means Trillium has fine-tuned this recipe in order to try to reach pilsner perfection.
It’s brewed using mostly Pilsner Malts—with some Melanoidin and Acid Malt thrown in for good measure—and some Hallertau Magnum and Saaz hops. The extended lagering is done using the brewery’s traditional horizontal lagering tanks.
My verdict? Good spice to this lovely straw-colored brew. There’s even a little bite of hops, with a crisp finish. Solid pilsner! Tomorrow? We’ll get back to the IPAs. Shout out to Double Nickel Brewing Company for the kickass pilsner glass, and to @craftedcoaster for the awesome coaster!
Head over to Instagram for more great Trillium brews, right now!
Who’s ready to get soaked on the Windowsill today?
Have you ever had one of the brews from Trillium Brewing Company’s Soak series? I hadn’t, until my trip to their Canton location this past Saturday. Starting in 2016 with the Blackberry Soak in 2016, Trillium has released many versions of this sour wheat ale: Peach, Plum, Raspberry, Apricot, Black Currant, Cranberry, Sour Cherry, Piña Colada and Blueberry. (Not to mention a couple of Super Soak imperial versions that have come out, too).
As part of my haul—which you saw most of in yesterday’s post—I picked up three bottles of their Blueberry Soak for my wife. I got home at 10 p.m. or so, and my wife immediately popped this bottle. I grabbed a glass, poured it for her and took the photo.
Soak in this classy label! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The way this beer is made is truly a work of art. I’ll let Trillium’s own words tell the tale… “We ferment the base beer with 60% wheat in large oak foeders for several months. Fermentation duties are shared gracefully between our house lactobacillus strain and our Native New England mixed culture. Loosely inspired by the cold-maceration process used in winemaking, we referment fruit in the base beer after primary foeder fermentation to ‘soak’ for a deep extraction of unique colors, aromatics, and flavors.”
Everybody got that? What does it all mean? It’s a bit above my paygrade, but the blueberry flavor was really nice in this ale. It’s light, refreshing, crisp and a little tart. And look at that color!
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This past Saturday, I took a trip to @trilliumcanton with my good buddy, Brian aka the Galley Cookin’ Beer Snob, and I had what is now my FAVORITE BEER OF ALL TIME—Peanut Butter Cup from Trillium Brewing Company.
First, a bit about our day. Brian got to my house at about 10:20AM and we hit the road to Canton, MA. We made no stops along the way and were inside the building at Trillium’s Canton brewery and taproom at 1:00 PM sharp. As was the plan, we went immediately to the taproom line to get a couple of 5oz pours each. I went with the Resolution Break, an Imperial Stout brewed with cold brew coffee, liege waffles, lactose and vanilla; and the Cape Elizabeth Light House, a double IPA. I’ll save the details on those for another post, because the attention today needs to be placed on the third 5oz pour I picked up.
The sign outside Trillium Brewing Company in Canton (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Just from the smell, I knew I was in for something life changing. I don’t think I’ll forget that first sip for a long, long time. The creamy, viscous goodness coated the inside of my mouth like motor oil does engine lines. The flavors of chocolate, peanut butter and Madagascar vanilla beans and lactose transported me back to younger days, enjoying peanut butter milkshakes on hot summer nights. I’m pretty sure I floated off the ground for a minute, too. OK… but seriously, this was some unbelievable beer! I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it!
After taking time to make sure I was OK to drive, we went over to the retail shop section to pick up our to-go beers. I ended up buying a case of all different kinds of cans and bottles for me, my wife, a buddy and for an upcoming trade. Sadly, the Peanut Butter Cup was not available to take home. No cans. No bottles. Not even growlers. How disappointing!
Here’s hoping these aren’t the only 5oz of Peanut Butter Cup I ever drink. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
“I’m an alligator, I’m a mama-papa coming for you / I’m the space invader, I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ Windowsill for you” David Bowie… sort of.
It’s common knowledge to SingleCut Beersmiths fans that owner Rich Buceta loves David Bowie. Bowie’s fifth studio album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, has been a huge influence on the Queens-based brewery’s beer names and label art. I always get a kick out of the Bowie-inspired names. Buceta really knows how to find those names, doesn’t he?
Are you an alligator, too? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
I’m An Alligator—formerly known as Cold Fire—is the “bigger brother” of another SingleCut IPA that has previously graced my sill, the Weird & Gilly. It’s a double dry-hopped DIPA inspired by Moonage Daydreams, a song Bowie originally recorded in 1971 with a band Arnold Corns, and subsequently re-released as the third track on Side one of Ziggy. I’m not sure what the hop recipe is for this one—SingleCut usually keeps that close to the chest—but, as the can says, it’s mega dry-hopped because “the Spiders demanded it.” Never disappoint the Spiders, I always say.
Like everything else SingleCut does, I’m An Alligator is phenomenal. Smooth, juicy and a little dank… Definitely one to chomp down on ASAP.
You know I wasn’t gonna make you Google this. Take a listen to the live version of Moonage Daydreams!
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I love when I get my hands on an exclusive beer for the sill. What a way to celebrate Beers on Windowsills’ second birthday!
First, the beer. Spartan 117 is a hoppy amber ale from Pennsauken Township, New Jersey’s Double Nickel Brewing Company. It’s heavily dry-hopped with Waimea hops from New Zealand. The result, for me, was very tasty. Citrus and pine punched through right away, and the beer had a nice sweetness to it that i really enjoyed. Love a good amber ale, and this one was very unique.
You Windowsillers that also play video games know exactly what inspired the name for this brew. It’s named after SPARTAN II Commando, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117—the hero of the immensely popular video game series, Halo. That’s him, right there on the can. Appropriately enough, this beer released on January 17. The cool part? It was a taproom exclusive that was not sent out for distribution at all.
The cans sent to me by DNBC: the Spartan 117, and the Failed Resolution. Look at those beautiful labels!(Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on WIndowsills)
So how did I get it? I started seeing other cans from the brewery all over Instagram, so I slid into their DMs to ask if they were planning on distributing to my area any time soon. John, the designer for DNBC—he does all of the can art, except for their core cans—got back to me and said no, but offered to send me out some beers to try.
John also filled me in about why the brewery is called Double Nickel. His grandfather, whom John delightfully called Pop Pop, came up with it. There’s a bridge down the street from Double Nickel named the Tacony Palmyra bridge. Since it used to cost 2 nickels to get across, people started calling it the Double Nickel Bridge. The nickname stuck, and it made for a pretty great name for a brewery when DNBC opened its taps three years ago.
A week or so later, I got the package. I ended up receiving the Spartan 117 and the Failed Resolution, a New England-style IPA double dry-hopped with Motueka hops. It was also very solid!
I have to thank John, and the Double Nickel crew, for their awesome generosity and quality beer.
Check out the Instagram photos to see all the stuff John and DNBC sent me! Make sure to like and follow Beers on Windowsills!
Special Notes: Part of Sixpoint’s Infinite Loop Series of experimental double IPAs.
Hops: Cashmere, Idaho 7, Sabro
ABV: 8.2%
IBU: 20
Availability: Limited
@untappd says: 3.85/5
We’re dabbling in some cool hops on the WIndowsill today!
If you follow my sill, you know I have a soft spot in my heart for Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Brewery. I love their logo, and the unique slim cans they put all their beers in. Unfortunately, I have really only had their year-round brews… until now. Check out the Dabble, an experimental New England-style Double IPA!
Look at this work of art! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
This is a very special beer from Sixpoint. It’s the second release in their “Infinite Loop” Series of innovative DIPAs. Max Nevins, VP of Marketing at Sixpoint told Brewbound.com about the series:
“We created the Infinite Loop series to bring our small batch innovation to the entire Sixpoint network, while also ensuring we have a great tasting, innovative IPA available year-round. The Meltdown liquid just blew people away—it went so quick we were out of stock two months before we expected. We’re definitely going to go bigger for Dabble.”
I missed out on the Meltdown, but the Dabble features a great and unique hop lineup: Cashmere, Idaho 7 and a new breed of Sabro hops to which, according to Brewbound, The Hop Breeding Company granted Sixpoint early access. It was super juicy, with a lot of big hoppy flavor and aroma. Really bright and tasty!
On Sixpoint’s own blog, Brewing Manager Heather McReynolds said: “I just wanted to make the juiciest IPA we could with the best, freshest ingredients available to us. Something for the New York hop heads who love dat juice.”
I think Sixpoint did a pretty solid job!
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