Tree House Brewing Building New Brewery

Good evening.  I’m Nate, co-founder and brewer at Tree House.  If I could just borrow a moment of your time, I’d like to share a few reflections on the past along with future plans Damien, Dean, myself, and the rest of the Tree House family have been working very hard to set in motion. . .

TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS, AND A GROWING FAMILY – A WORD ON 2015

What a year!

We started 2015 in a garage with one employee and 55 barrels of cellar space.  We finished it with 13 employees and 650 barrels of cellar space.

I am happy to say that through an incredible rate of expansion we stayed true to our principles. We progressed methodically, carefully, and without compromise.  As a result, I believe our beer is better than ever across a spectrum of styles while becoming far more available than a year ago.

To achieve this has required an intense and herculean effort – and one that I am extremely proud of every member of the Tree House family for contributing to.  It’s impossible to overstate the amount of work and unrelenting focus that is necessary to prepare and present finished beer week in and week out.  Without a deeply committed crew Tree House would not be possible. I would like to use this opportunity to thank them for their incredible and continued efforts.

SOMETHING NEW

We have been looking forward to sharing this news for a long time. . .

We are building a new brewery!

It will reside in Charlton, Massachusetts on a very central yet secluded seventy acres of land true to the Tree House aesthetic with a mixture of woods, green space, and serenity. It is designed as an expandable and multi-faceted 45,000 square foot facility and will feature a state of the art 50 BBL brewhouse, a 5,000 square foot retail space where can sales, bottle sales, and full pours will be offered at least five days a week, and a large outdoor pavilion.  The retail shop will feel familiar, with an open space vista overlooking a tank farm of 60, 120, and 240 BBL fermenters flanked by a natural light-drenched brewhouse.

The facility will house 30,000 barrels of cellar capacity initially and by the end of the first year we plan to have 50,000 barrels of cellar space available. The theoretical maximum for the brewhouse and space is in excess of 125,000 barrels a year.

Early Rendering

Despite massive gains in production and efficiency in Monson, it is not nearly enough.   The intent of the new brewery is to make our beer better than ever, vastly expand our range of offerings, make our core offerings more readily available, and to create a central gathering place of kinship and camaraderie for beer enthusiasts. 

The brewery is being designed in conjunction with Austin Design, Inc. It will be entirely new construction on a parcel of land that is owned by us.  This will afford us creative control of the property now and hopefully very far into the future.

This project aims to break ground in the spring of 2016 and to be operational in the first half of 2017 (we hope).

ARTISTIC EXPRESSION – THE FUTURE MONSON

The current plan for Tree House in Monson is to continue full operations into 2017 until the new brewery is operational and our classic beers are scaled, refined, and true to their original intent.

Once this happens we will slowly wind down major retail operations and clear the space as a barrel hall and center for special projects. We will have almost 10,000 square feet to age, condition, blend, and refine both clean oak projects and mixed fermentation creations.

The existing 30 BBL brewhouse will remain in place along with a number of 30 BBL tanks for wort creation. It will become a veritable nucleus of Tree House creative expression, experimentation, and exploration.  Our existing Wild Goose canning line, a bottling line, and a dedicated bottle conditioning bottling line will be in place so we may extensively carry out projects we have been working on for years but given space limitations have been unable to flesh out. 

The grounds will be extensively manicured and maintained, and the facility will be continue to be used for retail with an option for special and private events, both by Tree House and by private parties.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Tree House began life as a group of friends making ten gallon batches of beer in a small barn on St. Clair Road in Brimfield.  We have come a long way since then, but now with a large brewery and an even larger one to come, we maintain a visceral connection to the beginning and what made us start down this road in the first place.  What began as a small project has become an absolute obsession we care deeply about.  

Our new brewery is designed to allow us to continue doing what we have always done – just far more efficiently and on a much broader scale.  We have sold precisely no equity to fund this expansion, and creative control of our beer resides completely in our hands.  Imagine!  Beer brewed by us in a state of the art brewery designed specifically to carry out processes we have spent over four years refining!  We could not be more excited.

We feel a greater connection now to those who support us than ever.  We are perpetually grateful that you have embraced us and continue to give us the opportunity to pursue what we love, with the people we love. We will continue to pour our soul into the beer we make, the experience we provide, and the work we do. This is for you. 

On behalf of everyone at Tree House – THANK YOU!

-nate