It became official last November. Two of Vermont’s oldest craft breweries are coming together. Long Trail Brewing Co. is purchasing Otter Creek Brewing Co.
Otter Creek has produced the Wolaver’s line of organic beers since 2002 when the Wolaver family bought the brewery and Morgan Wolaver took hold of the reins. I can’t find a public statement from Wolaver and a query to one of Otter Creek’s sale s reps only yielded a press release. I’m so curious about Morgan’s reasons for selling, but the result should be fine. Long Trail has a long history in Vermont and there are some indications that they have an environmental commitment. Their ECOBrew website describes some of their environmental initiatives. Most of it is fairly commonplace activity at breweries these days but it is good customer education.
Mike Gerhart, formerly of Dogfish Head Brewing, came on board as Otter Creek’s new head of brewing last year and he has been cranking out some fine new brews. Check out this video in which Mike talks about Otter Creek’s commitment to organic brewing and supporting small farmers.
Sounds like this will be a match made in beer heaven. Great video, thanks for sharing and keeping us informed on the Vermont beer scene.