Ana Reyes-Whitlock
Founder & Head Brewer
Bought the barn for the water rights. Still writes every recipe, still argues with the cellar crew about lager time, still loses about a third of those arguments.
Wildpine — Brewhouse
Since 2014 · One Stubborn Well
Twelve years,one leaky barn.
We started on Route 9 with a three-barrel system, a borrowed chiller, and water soft enough for pilsner. We never moved. We just built around the well.
2014First brew day
30 bblBrewhouse today
11People on the crew
How We Got Here
The long way up the hill.
No investors, no rebrand, no second location. Just a slow argument with a well and a series of increasingly reasonable decisions about tank space.
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2014
Three barrels in a leaky barn
Ana Reyes-Whitlock and Tom Bray bought the barn at the top of Cutter Road for the water rights, not the building. First batch was a pilsner. It was, by everyone's account, only fine.
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2016
The roof, then the cold room
Fixed the roof one summer, then spent the entire next year's profit on a proper glycol system. That's the year the lager started tasting like the one in Ana's head.
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2018
The taproom opens
Sixty seats built out of the old hay floor, one wood stove salvaged from a school. We stopped distributing outside the county for two years just to keep up with the room.
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2020
Cans, and the ninety-mile ring
A small canning line went in against our better judgement and immediately proved us wrong. We drew a ninety-mile circle on a map and have not sold outside it since.
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2022
Solar on the south roof, audited every year
The brewhouse runs on what the roof makes. Spent grain goes to two farms down the road, and the wash water goes through a settling pond before it ever sees the brook.
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2025
Thirty barrels, same well
New brewhouse, same water, same four recipes on the board. Four thousand two hundred barrels a year, two-thirds of which never leave the building.
The Brewhouse
What's actually in the barn.
A thirty-barrel two-vessel brewhouse, fourteen fermenters, six lager tanks we refuse to turn over faster, and a cold room that costs more to run than the office.
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Water first
Every recipe starts with what comes out of the ground here — soft, low-mineral ridge water. It's why the pilsner tastes the way it does and why the IPA never turns harsh.
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Malt we can drive to
Base malt from a floor maltings ninety minutes north. Hops from three Champlain Valley farms. If we can't visit it in an afternoon, it doesn't go in the mash.
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The long cold
Eight weeks at 34°F on the lager tanks while the beer decides what it wants to be. It costs us tank space we could obviously be using. It is the whole point.
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Poured, not shipped
Two-thirds of what we brew never leaves the building. The rest goes to fifty accounts inside a ninety-mile ring. Fresh beer is a logistics problem and this is our answer.
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Nothing wasted twice
Spent grain to two farms within four miles, hop sludge to the compost pile behind the lot, wash water through a settling pond. The roof covers the brewhouse load.
Who's In The Barn
Eleven people, four of them since the roof.
Everybody here has pulled a hose at 5 am and poured a pint at 9 pm. That's not a philosophy, it's just how many of us there are.
Tom Bray
Founder & Operations
Fixed the roof, drew the ninety-mile circle, keeps the delivery van running. Knows every account by the name of whoever signs for the kegs.
Dana Okafor
Taproom & Kitchen
Runs the room and lights the pizza oven when the mood takes her. Built the spent-grain dough recipe over eleven failed Sundays and won't share it.
Marcus Hale
Cellar & Packaging
Owns the cold room and the canning line. If a beer goes on tap a week later than planned, it's because Marcus tasted it and said not yet.
Brewhouse Tours
Come and see the well.
Small groups, closed shoes, no glass on the brewhouse floor. Whoever brewed that week does the talking, which means no two tours are quite the same.
The Saturday Tour
$15
Saturdays · 11 am · 40 minutes
- Twelve spots, booked at the bar or by phone
- Forty minutes on the floor: well, mash tun, cold room
- Four 5 oz pours at the bar afterwards
- Under-21s welcome with a guardian, soda instead
Cellar Night
$25
Monthly · 6 pm · 90 minutes
- Twenty people, standing, in the cold room
- Five pours drawn straight from the barrels
- Things that will never see a tap handle
- Bring a jumper — it is genuinely 34°F in there
Group & Private
$15
Per head · Tue–Thu · by arrangement
- Twelve or more, any evening we're open
- Bolt-on to a mezzanine or whole-room booking
- Pizza pre-order so the oven keeps up
- Two weeks' notice is plenty, one usually works
All tours meet by the wood stove in the taproom. Closed-toe shoes are required on the brewhouse floor and we mean it — the floor is wet, sloped, and unforgiving of sandals. Wheelchair access to the brewhouse floor is step-free via the grain bay; tell us when you book and we'll route the tour that way.
The Shelf By The Door
Things with a pine on them.
Sold at the bar only — we've never got round to a web shop, and honestly the drive up is half the point. Everything printed within fifty miles.
Crooked Pine Tee
Heavyweight cotton, the crest screen-printed across the chest. Forest green or oatmeal, XS through 3XL.
$28
Half-Litre Mug
Thick-walled stoneware, glazed rust with the crest stamped into the base. Keeps a lager cold longer than it deserves to.
$32
Six-Panel Cap
Washed cotton twill, brass buckle, low crown. Moss green with the pine embroidered small on the front.
$26
Wildpine Growler
64 oz amber glass, swing top, the crest etched not printed so it survives the dishwasher. First fill is half price.
$22
No web shop, sorry
Merch is sold at the bar and nowhere else. If you're driving up from more than an hour away and want something held back in a particular size, ring the taproom on (802) 555-0164 and we'll put it under the counter with your name on it.
Come Up And See
The barn is still
leaky in one corner.
We know which one. Book a Saturday tour, or just turn up when the lights are on and ask whoever's behind the bar what's good today.
Wildpine Brewing Co.
Address418 Cutter Road, Bellhaven Ridge, VT 05452
Phone(802) 555-0164
Emailtaproom@wildpinebrewing.com
ToursSaturdays 11am, $15, twelve spots. Closed shoes.
How to find us