Heard that Grateful Hands out of Cabot has stopped selling beer. If I understand things correctly, interest in their beer was there, just became a bit too much as a side project. Enjoyed most everything I had from them, sorry to see them call it a day. First VT brewery to close since Shed?
Their last newsletter said they closed for the winter and they would reopen in the spring/summer. Are you sure they are out-of-business and just haven't reopened yet? I also enjoyed everything I had from them. I talked with the brewer at last year's SIPtemberfest and he sounded optimist about everything.
Just spoke with Ricky (owner/brewer), he said they did close for good as of Jan 1, 2014. He will be posting an official announcement soon, but your explanation was basically the gist of what he just told me.
And the shakeout begins. We've gone from 27 to 44 breweries in 2 years. A small state literally saturated with breweries. Sustainable?
He stopped because his part-time hobby was taking too much time from his family. Didn't have anything to do with money or demand.
Exactly. Lots of the new small brewers coming up aren't giving up their day jobs either. It's issues of commitment and risk driving my concerns - not money.
That's too bad. I stumbled on this guys garage last year while driving around the Joe's Pond area. It was great to taste a few beers and walk away with some bombers. Super small set up.
That's a bummer, I was fortunate enough to try about half their beers and thought Red Fern was spectacular, and the others were solid too.
This makes sense tbh. I dropped by Grateful Hands a few times when I lived in the Cabot/Walden area. Beer was good enough, but it didn't seem like he was 100% in; just a side project. I will say, if he was based in Burlington(ish) area I think he would have been more successful. Not many people on that side of the state want to buy a $10+ bomber.
