An Alchemical Reaction

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until the moment we closed ,” remembers John . “ We couldn ’ t carry any more customers through the door , and Jen and I talked about what was next . She said , ‘ Is this it ? Are we just going to run this pub forever ?’” And that ’ s when Jen shared her idea to open the second production facility , so that patrons could have access to this wildly popular new beer , Heady Topper , in a can . Since 2004 , it had only been available on draft at the pub . As she put together the numbers , John started to see the potential . He realized , “ We have so much more to do . This is NOT it . We ’ re in .”

The Flood

Going back and forth between the pub and building the new brewery was chaotic , but they managed to get it up and running in 2011 . And that ’ s just when Tropical Storm Irene hit the area and devastated parts of the Waterbury community and beyond .

“ Irene hit on a Sunday night ,” says John . “ Tuesday morning was our first ever canning of Heady Topper . Less than 48 hours later , I was knee deep in fuel and muck in the basement of our pub .

CLOSET | GARAGE | PANTRY | LAUNDRY | HOME OFFICE | ENTRY | MURPHY BED

28 VERMONT MAGAZINE