A huge amount of modern American IPA culture eventually leads back to Trillium.

Founded in Boston in 2013 by JC and Esther Tetreault, the brewery became one of the defining names of the New England beer movement. Long queues, sought-after can releases and enough online trading activity to make beer resemble a stock market all followed fairly quickly afterwards.

The brewery’s reputation was built largely on hop-forward beer. Soft texture, saturated tropical fruit, citrus and expressive aroma became hallmarks of the Trillium style. Yet the best beers generally retained balance underneath the intensity, which helped separate them from the endless wave of imitators that followed.

Beyond IPA, Trillium expanded into stouts, wild ales, lagers and an increasingly broad hospitality operation across Massachusetts. The brewery now runs multiple locations including Fort Point, Fenway and Canton, each helping cement its place within the wider New England beer scene.

What makes Trillium important is not simply popularity. The brewery helped shape how modern American craft beer looks, tastes and markets itself. For better or worse, a lot of breweries have spent the last decade borrowing parts of that blueprint.

Thankfully the beer still tends to justify the attention.