July 2005 Brewster Profiles

Gail Daha of Otter Creek Brewing and Prez of the Vermont Brewers Association.

Turning Copper into Gold

Their mascot is playful and furry, but Middlebury’s regional brewer is known for class and sustainability. Gail Daha came on board in 1993 as a bookkeeper and is now the general manager of Otter Creek Brewing and current president of the Vermont Brewers Association (VBA).

Daha helps oversee the VBA’s Annual Brewers Festival at the waterfront in Burlington each July, which hit an all-time high of 6800 attendees last year and shows no sign of waning. The VBA is also developing a new grant program for local brewers, and generating statistics on the economic impact of brewing in Vermont. “Many times the Legislature raises taxes on beer as a sin tax. But it is harder for small breweries to absorb that pricing, so [legislators] are giving out of state breweries an unfair trade advantage, and we need to make them more aware of that,” Daha explains.

Otter Creek uniquely encompasses two separate brands following a merger with Wolaver’s Organics in 2002. “We were one of several regional brewers for the Wolaver brothers and very successful, so when they wanted to consolidate their operations and [Otter Creek founder Lawrence Miller] was looking to pursue other interests, it was a perfect match,” says Daha.

The Wolaver line includes a brown ale, oatmeal stout, and wit beer, while Otter Creek has four year-round brews and regular seasonals including the Oktoberfest, Middlebury Ale, and Alpine Ale. Both brands are distributed in twenty states along the East Coast, Midwest and Southwest.

“Vermont breweries are outpacing the national average of growth in sales – we have seen anywhere from six to ten percent growth over the last ten years,” Daha reports. “It is the hometowns that make the difference; we have very educated beer consumers who have a palate for microbrews over generic beers.”

The author’s favorite Otter Creek beer – Stovepipe Porter; favorite Wolaver’s beer – Oatmeal Stout

Jennifer and Jon Kimmich with their 11-month-old son Charlie in the brewpub on a weekday afternoon–the only time slow enough to sit for a picture! photo: mary elizabeth fratini

The Tithing Brewers

Inadvertently pairing a medieval concept with their medieval craft, Jennifer and Jon Kimmich donate ten percent of the net profits from their wildly successful Waterbury brewpub, The Alchemist, to local charities – and, they rely almost exclusively on word-of-mouth advertising. “Advertising is expensive, so if we can take that money and donate it to support the community, it ultimately goes much further,” Jennifer Kimmich explains. The most recent civic venture is the tapping of the new “Revitalization Rye” – for each pint sold, the Alchemist will donate one dollar to the non-profit group Revitalization Waterbury.

Less than two years into the venture, their sixty-seat restaurant and bar has a waiting list every night on a strictly first-come, first serve basis. Community is at the heart of this brewpub, which highlights works by local artisans – from rotating exhibitions, to the French fry holders and mosaic tile bar. Although the business volume quickly overwhelmed early plans to staff the pub themselves (they now have 16 employees), “we are very present in the bar as a family,” according to Kimmich.

That includes their eleven-month old son Charlie, whose namesake brew – the Charlie Brown ale – is not currently available in the constantly rotating tap. “We wanted a very European-style pub where people are comfortable bringing their families, from babies to teenagers to grandparents,” Kimmich says. “On a Sunday afternoon, there’s often as many kids here as adults.”

With business continuing to grow two to five percent each month, the Alchemist has very few slow times, but the Kimmich’s have no immediate expansion plans. “Americans work too much. We are blessed that we don’t have to choose between being full-time parents and running our business,” Kimmich remarks.

State law prohibits bars from filling sixty-ounce growlers from the same tap used for service, so the Alchemist doesn’t sell growlers at all. “In terms of quality, Jon doesn’t want to pre-fill the growlers, and it also runs counter to the whole idea of a local pub,” Kimmich says. “We want people to turn off their TVs, come in and talk to their neighbors while they have a beer.”

Northeast Kingdom Brewster Laura Gates of Lyndonville. photo: Mary Elizabeth fratini

The author’s favorite (current) Alchemist brew – Revitalization Rye

Nestled in an unassuming building on Route 5 in Lyndonville, Trout River Brewing reserves its best treats for locals and those willing to travel. Their signature brew is the Rainbow Red, a sessionable ale that is widely distributed throughout the state. But journey into the Northeast Kingdom on a Friday or Saturday night and you’ll be well-rewarded with a surprisingly wide selection of beer styles and selected nitrogen taps, including the Hoppin’ Mad Pale Ale and Bullpout Stout, as well as hand-tossed gourmet pizzas.

“We loved the Northeast Kingdom, starting in East Burke and then moving here when we started bottling three years ago,” says Laura Gates, president of Trout River and past president of the Vermont Brewers Association.

Her husband Dan is the sole full-time brewer, while she handles marketing, finance, sales, and personnel matters for their nine employees, retail shop and pub.

“One thing that clearly helped us is always having Dan brew and [thereby] maintaining the consistency of our product,” Gates says. “Our labels might be crooked, but what is inside is always the same.” The retail price of their beer has also stayed constant since the day they started in 1997, despite the continuing increase in manufacturing costs.

Their customer base is loyal, however. “People in this state, and I am not an exception, want to support local business and make a point to seek out those products wherever they go,” Gates says. She estimates that eighty percent of their draft sales remain instate, although they are moving further into New Hampshire and looking next to Massachusetts, which is home to many of the area’s regular visitors.

Renee Nadeau with her two sons. Nadeau’s office and flexible schedule have been “a blessing.”

The author’s favorite Trout River Beer – Bullpout Stout, on nitrogen tap, at the brewpub

Their logo is a Navaho fertility symbol, the kokopelli; their variety packs are signed “Thanks! Matt and Renee”; and they determine distribution through a modified friends-n-family plan. “Two of our employees are from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so we are moving into those states now, and looking at Massachusetts next, which is where I grew up,” explains Renee Nadeau, co-president of Rock Art Brewing. “We are all about family here.”

Rock Art’s most successful product is similarly offbeat. Ridge Runner is a mild barley wine measuring in at about seven percent alcohol by volume. “It’s phenomenal, and barley wines are very popular in Vermont, but as we move into New Jersey it might be too big-bodied for that crowd,” Nadeau muses. “But there are a lot of ambers out there already and people are ready for the variety.”

What began as her husband’s homebrew hobby morphed into a homebrew supply company, and then into a full-fledged brewery in 1997. “I was never supposed to be part of the business (even though Matt made me business cards right away), but two years later, after having my first child, I quit my job and started doing sales part-time,” Nadeau recalls.

Now, with two children and five varieties available year-round on draft, Nadeau manages the business side of beer. “I’m so thankful for my job because I can work a few days a week and we have the office at home… Yesterday I did payroll while [the kids] napped,” she added.

Vermont’s reputation for excellent microbrews and support of local business has been key to Rock Art’s success. “Whether it is pottery or woodworking, there are so many craftspeople here and we like to be self-sufficient,” states Nadeau.

The author’s favorite Rock Art Beer – Ridge Runner

Not Just a Pretty Face

She was the first employee, a refugee from West Coast corporate America where she didn’t fit because, “I don’t like to wear tights or play golf.” Now Magic Hat’s Supreme Dreamer and Schemer, Stacey Steinmetz balances a six-month old baby with maintaining the brewery’s “zany” reputation.

“I came back in 1994 as our first salesperson, doing everything from selling beer on draft to running promotional events like the Mardi Gras festival,” Steinmetz recalls. “I found that I enjoyed marketing the most and really, just wanted to sit behind a desk.”

With a motto of “no awards, no traditions,” Magic Hat intentionally carves a different path to its customers. They don’t enter contests or use their identity as a Vermont-based company in marketing. “We try to differentiate ourselves in every capacity and enjoy the process of discovery — we are the people who make those crazy labels,” explains Steinmetz.

To critics who claim the brewery is all hype and no hop, Steinmetz points to Magic Hat’s continued growth, with sales up over twenty percent year to date, and its frequent receipt of consumer choice awards despite avoiding contests. “People can say we are all about the marketing, but we are a beer company and if the beer sucked, no one would buy it,” she contends. Instead, Magic Hat’s distribution recently expanded to include every state from Maine to Virginia.

Steinmetz is pragmatic about the preponderance of scantily-clad women in national beer ads, and says “Marketing is marketing, [although] what they are doing is sort of tacky.” And while Magic Hat does not make a specific effort to court female drinkers, she notes that, “we sell a lot of girly t-shirts in our retail shop and it’s not men who are buying them.”

Brewster Profiles

Turning Copper into Gold

The Tithing Brewers

The author’s favorite (current) Alchemist brew – Revitalization Rye

The author’s favorite Trout River Beer – Bullpout Stout, on nitrogen tap, at the brewpub

The author’s favorite Rock Art Beer – Ridge Runner

Not Just a Pretty Face