Brewers get $45K loan to establish Trout River

The Springfield Select Board has gotten behind a plan by three Springfield beer aficionados to establish a brewery in the former Fellows Gear Shaper complex.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150114/NEWS02/701149876

Gabe Streeter, left, and Trevor Billings are two of the three owners of Vermont Beer Shapers, LLC., which recently acquired Trout River Brewing Co. Photo: Susan Smallheer / Staff PhotoPublished January 14, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Brewers get $45K loan to establish Trout River By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Select Board has gotten behind a plan by three Springfield beer aficionados to establish a brewery in the former Fellows Gear Shaper complex. The Select Board voted Monday night to lend $45,000 to Vermont Beer Shapers LLC, a business formed by Trevor Billings, Gabe Streeter and Kelen Beardsley to buy Trout River Brewing Co. of Lyndonville. The friends bought Trout River late last year and are in the process of establishing the brewery at the Gear Shaper building. They bought Trout River’s equipment, name and beer recipes. Billings and Streeter met behind closed doors with the Select Board on Monday night before the board came back out in open session and approved the five-year, low-interest loan. The money will come from the town’s revolving loan fund, which comes from various federal loans to Springfield businesses that have been repaid. Billings and Streeter said they hoped to have the brewery set up soon, but they said a lot depended on them getting their federal brewery license. “We have no definite time frame,” Billings said. “This year.” Streeter will be the brewery’s only full-time employee, Billings said. He is the most expert brewer among the three friends. Eventually all three expect to be full-time employees, Streeter said. According to the terms of the loan, Beer Shapers will start paying back the loan on April 1, at 3 percent interest, with a balloon payment due at the end of five years. Two Select Board members did not vote: Stephanie Thompson said she was a friend of the brewers and George McNaughton was absent for the discussion, coming late to the meeting. Streeter said he was a self-taught home brewer, whose hobby had become a passion. He said that Trout River Brewery’s most famous brew was Rainbow Red, which he would continue to produce. But he said the Springfield brewery would make some changes as well. Streeter and Billings said that Trout River — the group is keeping the name — would be a 4,000 barrel brewery. Streeter said he started home brewing about a dozen years ago, and he said his favorite own brew was something he called “80 Shillings,” which he said was a Scottish-style beer. “It’s yummy,” he said. He said making beer was very similar to cooking. “Brewing beer is cooking, a real scientific way of cooking,” he said. McNaughton asked repeatedly when the brewery would open a brew pub, but Streeter and Billings said that a brew pub was several years away, if ever. “It’s a possibility, but we don’t want to take on the restaurant business as well,” Streeter said. They did say they hoped to have a small taproom just off The Great Fall at 100 River Street, where people could buy beer and fill growlers. “We’re excited to move into 100 River Street and we’re going to produce some tasty beer along the way,” Billings said. Billings said that the space they wanted to use at 100 River Street did need some renovations.