Trillium Scaled Up

I wish I could drink each beer 3-4 times from different batches before I reviewed it. I suppose I could, but it would mean writing far fewer articles. Every so often I try a beer and something about it tastes “off” to me, it can be actual off flavors in the beer (oxidation, contamination, etc.), that the beer was too old (or occasionally too young), or just something off with my palate at the time when I sampled the beer. Yes, even seasoned and respected beer writers have off-days (which means hacks like me have them all the time). If there is something wrong with the beer I am usually hesitant to write it up until I try it again, nothing would feel worse than trashing a beer in writing and then enjoying it on a second try. I guarantee this happens with the crowd-sourced beer reviews, especially when people are tasting a ton of beers at a festival and logging in each sample on Untappd or a similar site. How can you properly evaluate something by trying a 3 oz. pour in the middle of a festival?

I recently visited the new Trillium Brewery in Canton and picked up a case of different bottles including a couple bottles of Scaled Up, their new DIPA celebrating the increased capacity that comes with opening the new brewery. I bought two bottles, and tried one almost immediately. The first beer was OK overall, but there was one hop flavor that was aggressive and astringent on my palate (for the record my wife tasted it too). It wasn’t strong enough to ruin the beer, but it didn’t seem right so I hesitated writing about the beer until I could try the second bottle. I waited a couple weeks for the second sample, and that aggressive flavor was gone, the rest of the hop flavors and aromas remained in tact and the beer was very good. I am not sure if the beer was young and something needed to mellow out, or if it was a combination of the hop flavor with something we ate for dinner, but I am glad we had the second bottle to enjoy. Trillium Scaled Up is brewed with Galaxy, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin and Columbus hops and is available for growler fills and in 750 mL bottles on a rotating basis.

Trillium Scaled Up pours a clear bright orange with a mild white head. The scent is a big hit of hops, predominantly tropical and citrus fruit aromas. The taste is very hop forward, notes of grapefruit, stone fruit, apricot and tangerine along with a soft bitterness. Some malts round out the flavor, touches of toast, honey and a little boozy sweetness. The beer is medium bodied and goes down very easy for 8% ABV. The finish is crisp and clean with some residual hop flavor. Scaled Up fits perfectly in the stable of good to great IPAs that have made Trillium so popular that they needed to increase production and build a second brewery. I am really glad I grabbed a second bottle. Hoppy Boston score: 4.25/5.

Previous Trillium Reviews:

Trillium Launch Beer, Trillium PM Dawn, BREWERY OVERVIEW, Trillium Sinister Kid, Trillium Congress St. IPA, Trillium Farmhouse Ale, Trillium Wakerobin Rye