Tree House Brewing Is The Largest Brewery You've Never Heard Of
On a Saturday afternoon, trying to get into Tree House Brewing Company's Charlton, Massachusetts main facility to buy their beer, coffee, spirits, canned cocktails and NA seltzers can feel a bit like being at Disney World or waiting to get into a VIP club. People with dollies (the brewery itself provides commercial grade dollies for use) carry multiple cases of beers to their cars and those cases can be upwards of $120 each for 24 beers. The line to pick up beer can stretch for a long way inside along the side of the balcony that overlooks the brewhouse and canning facility. Tree House does not sell its beer to bars or beer shops; they have seven locations to pick up their drinks in three states. Their beer is sometimes available at New England Patriots home games at Gillette Stadium in special 19.2 oz. cans. They also will have a beer garden at the PGA Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT on June 16-22 next to the 14th hole.
The 'about us' on their Youtube Page calls themselves, 'the largest direct-to-consumer brewery on Earth.'
Tree House (named after the tree house on their first property) opened in 2011 in the town of Brimfield, MA before moving to Monson, MA, a town close to the Connecticut border. Tree House outgrew that spot as well with lines stretching for hours just to buy to-go beer, especially of their New England style IPAs.
Julius, their most popular flagship IPA, quickly became what every beer geek was talking about in New England and beyond. First brewed in 2012, it was one of the first hazy IPAs (also called New England IPA or NEIPA thanks in part to Julius) that eschewed high hop bitterness for a more sweet, fuller palate along with bursting citrus and tropical flavors that come from using the hops later in the boil/fermentation process. 13 years later, hazy IPAs are now one of the most popular beer styles in the world.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - MARCH 11: Interior dining area at the Tree House Brewing Company's new Saratoga taproom on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, on Route 9 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. This is Tree House's seventh location. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
Seeing a need to expand, the brewery built its flagship $18.5 million Charlton location in 2017 and then expanded, first in Woodstock, CT in 2020 where they make hard cider and also operate a small tasting room. Tree House then expanded to Sandwich, MA on the vacationland area of Cape Cod in 2021. Then in 2022 to Central Massachusetts with its sprawling Deerfield, MA location which hosts concerts with big performers like Gary Clark Jr. and Trampled by Turtles. They then bought the Tewksbury Country Club in Tewksbury, MA just north of Boston in 2022 and first turned it into an 'outpost' go-to pick up spot and then opened the full tasting room in June 2023.
In 2024, Tree House created a pick up location and kiosk in the Prudential Central mall in the heart of Boston which also has a seasonal beer garden open Wednesday to Saturday. Recently, in early 2025, they opened their first taproom location in the resort town of Saratoga Springs, NY—a 23,000 sq. ft. tasting facility. Sandwich, Tewksbury, Deerfield, Saratoga all serve pizza.
The brewery also has a thriving YouTube page (46,000+ subscribers) where Tree House Brewing Company's owner and CEO Nathan Lanier taste tests macro lagers and other beverages, showcases hop picking trips to New Zealand and shows off his tricked out Tree House camper van. Lanier himself has an affable, bro-ish air on camera and clearly enjoys making these videos. Tree House Brewing Company as well has almost 250,000 Instagram followers. Despite this fame, many casual drinkers may not be familiar with Tree House due to their disrupter type direct-to-consumer approach.
A customer uses a brewery provided dolly to carry his haul to his car during a Wednesday afternoon at Tree House Brewing Company in Charlton, MA.
Their flagship location and brewery is based in Charlton, MA, an easy stopover off the Massachusetts Turnpike in Central Massachusetts 56 miles west of Boston. At any time, the 53,000 sq. ft. facility is open seven days a week. Food trucks outside serve customers or many patrons bring a picnic lunch or dinner to snack on.
I went on a Wednesday afternoon on a beautiful sunny June day, which I recommend as weekends tend to be too chaotic. The crowd was subdued with many dogs on leash (the place is very dog friendly), people of all ages quietly looking at the phones/working or young couples with strollers talking under the shade of the wide umbrellas that dot the area.
Once inside, there are two bars, one that caters to IPAs and stouts and the 'classics bar' which serves lagers and other classic beer styles like brown ales or English styles. Although known for IPAs, Tree House Brewing Company's popularity allows them to expand to a full range of classic beer styles as well as rarer, less brewed beers like the indigenous California common to a full complement of smoked lagers. The IPA and stout bar has 35 beers on draft while the classics bar has 38 beers. A 16 oz. pilsner dry hopped with Chinook was $9. I don't know of any other brewery in the world that has 72 of their own offerings on draft at any given time.
The brewhouse which supplies the beer for Tree House's various taprooms. In 2023, the brewery made just shy of 40,000 barrels. This would make them one of the 100 biggest breweries in the U.S. Most small breweries in America make less than 3000 BBLs.
To order beer to go, you can order on your phone via their website or order off the few electronic kiosks just inside the front door. The to-go options are massive with 23 different double IPAs to choose from! The list is a dizzying array of over 100 different beers to choose from and that doesn't include the canned coffee, canned cocktails and other drinks!
So if you are in the area, Tree House Brewing Company at any of their locations is worth a visit. Their star continues to rise and the future looks bright for this direct-to-consumer craft brand.
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