USA, MA: Trillium Brewing Company launched by husband and wife team in Canton and Boston
JC and Esther Tetreault got married seven years ago on a vineyard in Stonington, Conn. The owners of the vineyard, a husband and wife team, were so inspiring that the Tetreaults decided to follow in their footsteps - sort of - and open a brewery. As a result, Trillium Brewing Company, a New England farmhouse style brewery with locations in Canton and Boston, was born, Wicked Local reported on April 9.
“The owners of the vineyard were pretty inspirational,” said JC, a Brighton resident who affectionately refers to himself as a beer nerd. “They pursued what they really wanted and kind of made it happen. They just seemed so incredibly happy about what they were able to accomplish. We didn't want to wait for the retirement time in our lives to pursue our life's dream, so we decided to just kind of go for it and start the process much earlier than that.”
Having five times the capacity of their Boston location in Fort Point, the Canton brewery that opened in December on Shawmut Road has 16,000 square feet, a 30-barrel brew house, 4,000 square feet of retail space, and a tasting room with a rotating menu of complimentary samples.
The brewery features two separate counters, one counter that opens to both the brew house and the production floor, and the second counter which opens to the mezzanine above, which houses their wild beer program. Also, in the near future, the location will boast a tap room as well.
Their Boston location, at 2,300 square feet and a 10-barrel brew house, is referred to by JC as their proof-of-concept location. In total, both locations have about 30 employees, with some employees being local hires.
The company’s name, Trillium, comes from the flower species, which is unique in its form, symmetry and balance, according to JC, who came up with the name for the brewery. Adds JC, “The trillium flower is a native North American wildflower and it serves as a symbol for what we're trying to achieve in our beers, and the culture that we're trying to create around the brewery.”
At any given time, the brewery has between eight and 15 beers on tap. Beer can be purchased directly at the brewery in bottles or growler fills. More than a dozen restaurants and liquor stores carry the line as well. Customers hail not only from Massachusetts but also include visitors from other states on “beer vacations” who visit different breweries that they’ve read about.
Home brewers for years who’ve always enjoyed cooking and making things as they go along, JC, 39, and Esther, 38, have created more than 150 kinds of beers. The couple derives the names for the beers from a life moment, a meal they created together, or a combination of both. They’ve even made beer for their wedding guests as gifts, bottling and creating the handmade labels for each beer.
JC, who used to work as a director of medical research for a medical device company, and Esther, who had her own fitness company and also did small business consulting on the side, both now work at the brewery full time and couldn’t be happier, recently celebrating their third anniversary of the Boston location’s opening.
Since its inception, the brewing company has received several accolades from the RateBeer Best Awards festival, held in Santa Rosa, Cal. Trillium was the recipient of 10 awards, one of which brandished it as one of the top 100 breweries in the world.
The distinctive brewery also is going to be a featured brewer at an upcoming invitation only Brewery Festival. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Beer Camp Across America, a craft beer festival that brings together brewers from all parts of the country, sent select invites to breweries to collaborate and design six different craft beers as part of a mixed 12-pack. The festival will be held in Boston’s City Hall Plaza in June.
14 April, 2016
