By Leslie Wright
Free Press Staff Writer

Bill Cherry always dreamed of opening his own brewery. The opportunity came along when the company he was working for folded.

He wanted to stay in Vermont. The job offerings for a food scientist were few.

Now, Cherry thought, was the time to pursue his dream.

Cherry, 40, started Switchback Brewing Co. in March, He's ready to roll out the kegs. The beer is expected to be in local bars starting this week. At this point Cherry can't say which bars will carry the beer, but he expects it to be on tap in the downtown Burlington area.

Cherry is jumping into the microbrew business well after the craze of the late-1990s, but at a time when the market has matured. New entrants tend to be better financed and better organized, said Daniel Bradford, president of the Brewers' Association of America. Today 1,400 small breweries that produce 3 percent to 4 percent of the beer consumed in the country. Small breweries grew 9.7 percent last year, Bradford said.

Despite several brewery failures in Vermont, including Franklin County Brewery Inc., maker of Rail City beers; Tunbridge Brewing Co.; and Golden Dome Brewing Co. in Montpelier, Cherry is undeterred.

He painstakingly developed Switchback to fit into the array of beer offerings on tap at bars today. Switchback is different, he said -- so different, he struggles to describe it.

"This is my weakest point, describing this beer, because it has to be tasted," Cherry said.

He describes it as an "unfiltered reddish amber specifically brewed to fit in alongside my competitors, especially the Vermont breweries."


Keeping it simple


His brewery is attached to the McKenzie of Vermont sales office on Flynn Avenue in Burlington, the street where local microbrewery Magic Hat once resided. The spartan, 6,300-square-foot room is outfitted with the requisite stainless steel vats used in beer-making, a big, square walk-in refrigerator bought on eBay and rows of kegs. A stainless steel door propped up on beer kegs serves as Cherry's desk.

Cherry plans to keep things simple. He is producing only draught beer to be sold at bars and restaurants. His goal for the first year of production is 1,200 to 1,500 barrels. By comparison, Magic Hat expects to sell 38,000 barrels this year.

Starting small is a good idea, said Lawrence Miller, founder of Otter Creek Brewing Co. in Middlebury and a board member of the American Brewers' Association. Miller sold his brewery to a California brewer earlier this year. There's always room for a new entry in the market as long as the brewer has realistic expectations, Miller said.

"For the right people with the right set of skills, any time's a good time to get into the business," Miller said.

He liked Cherry's idea of starting small with kegs and not tackling bottling. He also approved of brewing beers that don't fit any set genre.

"Finding a distinctive product is everything, and that's a position I'm pretty comfortable with. None of the beers we ever brewed were to style. They were just beers I liked," Miller said.
Drawing on experience


Cherry says he thinks he has the right skills to be successful. He earned a master's degree in food science at the University of Califorinia-Davis, known for beer- and wine-making programs. He ran the brewery at Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City in the early '90s taking the company from 7,000 barrels to 38,000 barrels a year.

Cherry learned about production efficiency making Claussen pickles and Louis Rich turkey. He came to Vermont to work for Fresh Connections, which made specialty foods for restaurants. The company went out of business in November 2000.

That seemed like a logical time to make a transition. He and a college friend from Connecticut teamed up to start Switchback. This spring he rented space in the former Fresh Connections building.

Is there really room for another draught beer on the crowded row of tap handles at local bars?

"Yes, there really is," said James Tierney, brew master at Three Needs Brewery & Taproom in Burlington. "There's a lot of room for people who do specialty beers."

Three Needs constantly rotates the types of beers brewed in the bar's basement to offer on tap. The microbrew craze in the late '90s educated beer drinkers about alternatives, he said.

Tierney said. "Beer culture is coming back," Tierney said. "You now have beer snobs instead of wine snobs."
Contact Leslie Wright at 660-1841 or lwright@bfp.burlingtonfreepress- .com