The story of Vermont beer post-Prohibition can be traced to Burlington—more specifically, to the corner of College and St. Paul Streets, where homebrewer Greg Noonan and his then wife Nancy opened the Vermont Pub and Brewery in November 1988.
All these years later, the pub still brews and sells pints of Noonan’s original Burly Irish Ale and Bombay Grab IPA while a culture of craft beer has sprouted around it. In Burlington, breweries such as Magic Hat, Switchback, and Zero Gravity have established the city as a beer destination, while another generation of brewers continues to write the story of Vermont beer.
Vermont Inspired
“We take so much passion and pride in making things with our hands up here,” says Joe Lemnah, founder of Burlington Beer Company. “It’s that New England spirit of, ‘We can make it through any cold winter; it snows in April, no big deal, nothing to complain about; just scrape off the car, go to work, and make the best beer possible.’”
