Switchback Brewing Company

Switchback Brewing Company is a Burlington brewery that is 100% employee-owned and operated. Bill Cherry and his longtime friend Jeff founded it in 2002, using equipment from a defunct Arizona brewery, and the first pint of Switchback Ale was poured at a Burlington bar that October. Cherry came up with the name while picturing himself cycling up the Appalachian Gap. He liked that hikers, skiers and cyclists all use switchbacks, and that the word works as a metaphor for a path that is seldom straight. The brewery later installed a copper brewhouse built in 1964 for a German brewery. It opened its taproom in 2014, and in 2017 it became the Northeast’s first brewery owned entirely by its employees. The house yeast behind Switchback Ale, named Brave Little Strain in a fan contest, has been used in every batch since 2002. Switchback also has a beer garden and smokehouse.