Vermont will soon be without the trailblazing brewpub that helped launch the state’s craft-beer movement. On Monday, the Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington announced that it will close at the end of service on November 14, just days after its 38th anniversary.
“Since 2020, we’ve struggled to get back to the level of business that is necessary to sustain our operation, and unfortunately we just don’t have the resources to hold out any longer for that day to come,” the social media post said.
When Greg and Nancy Noonan opened the Vermont Pub & Brewery at 144 College Street in fall 1988, there were only 11 brewpubs in the United States. The business model — brewing and serving beer for immediate consumption in the same facility — had been outlawed in Vermont since Prohibition. Greg Noonan and the late Bill Mares, then a state legislator, drafted changes to state law that made brewpubs legal when they were passed in spring 1988.
“VPB was a mecca and a classroom for home brewers,” Seven Days wrote on the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 2013. It also helped launch the careers of many Vermont brewers, including the Alchemist’s John Kimmich and Glenn Walter of Burlington’s Three Needs, both of whom worked for Noonan in the mid-1990s.
Noonan died from cancer in 2009 at age 58. After his death, his longtime friend and business partner Steve Polewacyk kept the spacious corner restaurant and its 14-barrel brewery buzzing. Vermont Pub & Brewery is now co-owned by longtime employees Elise Pecor and Scott Gawitt, who is also its brewmaster.
“It’s hard to tell the story of Vermont craft beer without starting with Vermont Pub & Brewery,” Vermont Brewers Association executive director Emma Arian said in a tribute to the business posted on Monday night. “And while Greg’s legacy is an important part of VPB’s story, so are the people who have carried it forward.”
The brewpub’s owners did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At an August meeting of Burlington business owners and Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Pecor was outspoken about the challenges the brewpub was facing.
Pecor “described an impossible task of keeping their patio clear and staff safe,” WCAX-TV reported. “‘We’ve had someone defecate on our patio three days in a row,’ Pecor said, adding that foot traffic is down 20% from last year, which was already a bad year.”
For customers looking to sip a final pint of Burly Irish Ale, Forbidden Fruit or Handsome Mick’s Irish Stout, the brewpub will offer beer and food specials in its final days.
“Greg’s legacy does not end with the closing of VPB,” the social media announcement said, “but he will live on in our hearts and in every sip of Vermont craft beer and beyond.”
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