When you want to have a good meal and a beer at a
brew pub, sometimes you need to go to the original. Since it's beginning
in 1988, Vermont Pub and Brewery has been a Downtown Burlington
institution, helping to bring the concept of the restaurant that brews
and serves its own craft beer right on-site to the public. When VPB was
opening its doors the idea of a brew pub had to be explained to
customers, now there are nearly 3000 in the U.S. alone.
Started by the late and legendary Greg Noonan and now
run by his business partner Steve Polewacyk and Brew-master Russ
FitzPatrick (pictured above), VPB continues to serve up great food and some of the best
beer in town. We were lucky to have the chance to sit down with Steve
and Russ and talk VPB history, brewing, local ingredients for food and
beer, and their love for Burlington and Vermont Pub and Brewery.
Running the kitchen is Mike Trepanier who is
dedicated to the use of local ingredients in their classic pub dishes
from premium Vermont made cheeses to locally raised beef, baked goods
and chocolate from around the corner, and Vermont roasted coffee. Steve
and Mike work hard to ensure that their menu offerings are enticing,
local, and yet still affordable.
With ten-plus beers on tap from both sides of their
two room bar at any given time plus rotating specials, VPB is a great
place to sit down with friends and have a pint. We were treated by Steve
and Russ to a full tasting of their classics from ranging their gold
metal winning Burly Irish Ale through to the very fruity Forbidden Fruit
Framboise. The only place to sample a pint or take home a growler is at
the Pub and Brewery on College Street in Burlington...for now. Bottles
and kegs may be, if we are lucky, in the near future.
www.vermontbrewery.com
www.vermontbrewery.com