Region & History

How many breweries does Vermont have? According to the Brewers Association's 2025 statistics, there are 74 craft breweries. That works out to 14.6 breweries per 100,000 adults aged 21 and over, putting the state at number one in the northeastern US. By definition, a craft brewer is small and independent, so large corporations don't count. Vermont has only around 640,000 residents (2020 Census), which makes the density of breweries especially striking.

Greg Noonan laid the foundation. In November 1988, he opened the Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington, at the corner of College Street and St. Paul Street. His brewhouse produced a yeast strain that would later shape the flavor of the entire state.

One of those who learned there was John Kimmich. He came to Vermont in 1994 to train under Noonan. In November 2003, he and his wife Jen opened the Alchemist as a brewpub in Waterbury, with just 60 seats. Two months later, he brewed Heady Topper for the first time. In August 2011, Tropical Storm Irene flooded downtown Waterbury and destroyed the pub. The couple then shifted their focus to the small canning operation they had just started.

On a farm in the northeastern part of the state, Hill Farmstead launched in 2010. Shaun Hill brewed in Greensboro Bend, in the Northeast Kingdom region, where his family has lived since 1788. Before that, he had worked in Stowe and at Nørrebro Bryghus in Copenhagen. His beers bear the names of ancestors, and RateBeer has repeatedly voted the brewery the best in the world.

Lawson's Finest Liquids began in 2008 with a one-barrel system in a shed next to Sean and Karen Lawson's house in Warren. Sip of Sunshine arrived in 2014 as the first big beer, and the taproom in Waitsfield opened in October 2018.