Stopped by to check out the sampling room. Pretty tasty low abv offerings off the pilot system. Nice hefe, pale ale & porter w/cherries. Just getting brewery set up.
This will replace the Citizen Cider tasting room in the fort that moved to B'ton for after-work imbibing local option. Looking forward to getting over there soon!
I believe she's saying it will replace the CC tasting room as *her* after-work imbibing option. CC is moving the tasting room to Pine St. in Burlington. Joe/BBC is literally just getting setup in Williston, and is not moving.
BBC will be open Thurs-Sat next week from probably noon to around 7pm on Thur and Friday. Unknown about Saturday. Looks like it's still a month or so (Aprilish) until he has equipment set up and first brew from that. Infinity Brewing Co in South Burlington is now open (as of today). They are basically doing a 'soft open' rather than a big grand opening. It's kinda tricky to find but it's pretty close to the Fort. It's north of the airport and just south of St Michael's in that industrial area.
I have to be honest, I just barely heard about Infinity. There are too many breweries for me to keep track of at this point.
Luckily, I've been keeping track. Here's a round-up from last year: 12 breweries in planning. Then you probably know about the most recent updates on the four Burlington breweries opening soon: Infinity, Four Quarters, Burlington Beer Co, and Queen City. Then there's another new two that's not included in last year's new 12 roundup. Simple Roots Brewing in Burlington (in planning) was just discovered a few weeks ago. The Simple Roots guy is an ABG grad who "interned" (or whatever its called) at Zero Gravity and created their Gose the Destroyer. Next, 1st Republic Brewing slipped under the radar and opened before we knew anything about them. 1st Republic is actually already open/active/brewing and sending out beer in their local area. And yeah, if you're wondering WTH with the explosion of breweries last year and this year, in 2012 there were 25/23 and in 2013 there's 43/41 (the slash is because Otter Creek and Long Trail has 2 permits each, so 25 total VT licenses and 23 actual breweries and in 2013, 43 total licenses and 41 actual breweries. Number of brewing licenses nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013. Fancy chart here.
Wow. Quite an increase in a state already awash in local beer! I've been following a similar uptick across the Connecticut in recent years, so I'm not surprised to see the same thing happening in Vermont. Just as a side note, does the 25/23 and 43/41 count include places like Maple Leaf that don't appear to actually be a brewery, or Just Beer & Curious Traveler, which are listed separately and appear to be the same company? It seems like the list of breweries in the state could use some cleaning up, both in terms of clearing out/consolidating some old places, and adding some of the newer ones.
It doesn't include Maple Leaf or Just Beer/Curious Traveler/A&S. Those totals were just for VT state malt manufacturing licenses. Since Alchemy & Science (Just Beer, Traveler, etc.) doesn't actual brew beer in VT and doesn't have a license, it's not included in that list/totals. It does include Harpoon which has a VT license (and a MA license). It also includes Covered Bridge who is a client brewer (contracts to MA's Paper City), but also has license for on-site brewing in their 1/2 barrel equipment. Totals also includes a local/popular pub which got its license but hasn't officially announced anything yet (not Pro Pig, they are included). I spoke with the pub and they are still deciding on what they'll call the brewing operations.
Impressive! I had a friend who lived a short walk from Maple Leaf, and we were both disappointed to find that it is not in fact a brewery, but good to know that your VTBeer listing is more exhaustive. I'm especially excited to check out all the new Burlington breweries, hopefully some time this summer.
Ron Cotti, original brewer at Maple Leaf, then Bobcat, then Otter Creek - left for Plymouth but has returned. Now working for Steve Parkes at ABG/Drop In in Middlebury.
