When Three Needs Taproom & Brewery opened on College Street in Burlington in 1995, it was one of the few places in Vermont where patrons could sip a beer brewed in-house.
In 2012, owner Glenn Walter moved his pub to Pearl Street, where he found the cost of outfitting a brewery in the new space was just too high. But the brewing industry had exploded in the 20 years since Three Needs' founding, with dozens of breweries popping up statewide. So Walter started sniffing around to see if he could run his recipes through someone else's system.
The brewers at nearby Queen City Brewery were game. Earlier this month, Walter mashed in his first brew — a Belgian-style witbier seasoned with coriander and orange peel — alongside those South End brewers. Walter plans to tap that beer later this week, and to reintroduce his Schwarzbier and Chocolate Thunder Porter — both currently in Queen City's fermenters — in the next few weeks. Once those are ready, Three Needs will offer three "house" creations on draft at a time.
Walter seems thrilled with the arrangement. "It's kind of a new brewery paradigm here," he says, "being able to have my own beers without having to own a brewery. I just sort of go in and do the glory job and say thanks — no cleaning, no keg washing, none of that. It's just the best position to be in."
The original print version of this article was headlined "Needed to Happen"