Belt’s Beer Garden: Vibin’ Out

I always love finding new breweries to try. And, today, I have a beer from a New York brewery that I have never heard of before - Beer Tree Brew.

Beer Tree, near the Pennsylvania/NY border, has been brewing quality libations in Port Crane, New York since 2017. In fact, they’ve done so well out there that they have opened up two additional taprooms nearby, one in Binghamton and the other in Johnson City.

Before I get into their beer, I always like pointing out great graphics. And Beer Tree has one of the best brewery logos I’ve come across. I absolutely love their “hop tree” logo and can’t wait to get myself out there to pick up some merch.

But on to the beer! Today I have their newest variation of Fresh Vibes, a New England-style IPA. that features a blend of four delicious hops.

This version of Fresh Vibes boasts a hop bill of Mosaic, Idaho 7, Azacca, and Strata hops and features a solid 7.1% ABV. It was packaged on March 24th, with each sixteen ounce can costing $6…or you can snag a four-pack for around $21.

The brew poured a very murky, quite hazy golden straw color with about two fingers of thick head building up. That dense foam slowly fizzled away, leaving a massive amount of lacing around the edge of the glass initially. The web-work of lacing slowly became less and less as I drank the beer down.

On the nose, it was quite resinous with some big oily hop aromas. There were notes of grass, tropical fruit, and just a touch of pine. It was the dank grass that was most prevalent but peach, pineapple, apricot, and lemon were all distinguishable underneath the earthiness.

Each swig starts with a super creamy and heavy mouthfeel before a resinous hop profile builds up rather quickly. Up front it’s very oily and dank, with those grassy notes once again taking the lead.

That lush grasseous flavor really controls the entire first half of the sip, blocking most of the other hop characteristics from getting through. However, after a few moments, bursts of citrus and tropical fruits begin to appear.

Tangerine and apricot pop the loudest of the fruits, with them combining to almost wash the grass away. But there are also little hits of pineapple, peach, and some lemon zest that periodically appear as well.

The citrus/tropical notes really begin to take hold of the sip on the backend, right as everything is beginning to fade away. And the creaminess of the beer, mixed with that late tropical pop, makes Fresh Vibes finish more like a well-blended smoothie than a beer.

Lingering on the tongue after everything else had vanished was a small resinous characteristic and some light dryness. It mixed together into a slightly sticky finish but there was no real aftertaste…just that sticky feeling.

Fresh Vibes was a very tasty NE IPA. It sat a little heavy and, therefore, took a bit longer to drink, but the flavors were all there and it was still rather crushable. I can’t wait to get my hands on more from Beer Tree.