USA, VT: Vermont Beer Makers to build new $3 mln brewery and taproom in Brattleboro

Springfield-based brewery Vermont Beer Makers plans to move to Brattleboro and build a new $3 million brewery and taproom on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro, the Bennington Banner reported on September 29.

The plans for the 37,000-square-foot facility are scheduled to come before the Development Review Board on Oct. 20.

Vermont Beer Makers is owned in part by Guilford businessman Paul Belogour, who also owns the Brattleboro Reformer, Bennington Banner and Manchester Journal. State records list the brewery’s other owners as Norman Connell and Borden James.

The new structure at 239 Old Ferry Road would include a taproom as well as space for the brewing operations, according to its Development Review Board permit application. The project cost is an estimated $3 million.

General Manager Kelen Beardsley said the move will allow Vermont Beer Makers to expand its production.

“We’ll have beer available on site as well,” he said. “And hopefully we’ll create a cool little hangout atmosphere place for people to come and have a beer.”

He said the goal is to open there before the end of 2022.

Founded as Trout River Brewing Company in 1996, the brewery was bought in 2014 by Beardsley, Gabe Streeter and Trevor Billings, who moved it to their hometown of Springfield. After Belogour’s acquisition last year, the name changed to Vermont Beer Makers. Beardsley and Streeter remain on staff.

Initially, the plan was to keep the brewery’s Springfield operations while expanding to Brattleboro. But the company’s lease is ending and the landlord didn’t want to renegotiate it, Beardsley said.

“Paul’s been great at trying to find different solutions here in Springfield,” Beardsley said of Belogour. “But with everything that he has going on down in Brattleboro, it just made sense to do something down at that location.”

239 Old Ferry Road is owned by Vermont RE Development LLC, one of Belogour’s companies. The brewery would be built separately from an existing building on that property, which houses Walker and Company Roofing and Construction.

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