Vermont brewery hit by pandemic, floods announces closure after five years in business

A Vermont brewery that opened less than a year before the COVID-19 pandemic and was hit hard by flooding in 2023 has announced its closure.

Outer Limits Brewing began in July 2019 in a spacious brick building on the attractive village green of Proctorsville in southern Vermont, a short drive from Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow. Husband-and-wife team Taylor Shaw and Wesley Tice started the brewery to pursue Tice’s interest in making beer – he had previously worked for Shipyard Brewing in Maine – and organic farming. Shaw had spent years working in the restaurant industry.

The brewery served its own beers, many with English influences, as well as food including wings, pizza and salads. “We have a really inviting, comfortable atmosphere,” Shaw told the Burlington Free Press in 2019. “Our staff is always smiling. And we have great beer.”

Shaw and Tice announced the closing of Outer Limits on social media Aug. 27.

'We walk away feeling proud'

“Last year’s flood really took us for a spin and we’ve been trying to regain our footing ever since,” according to the post signed “Wesley & Taylor.” “After some time off and a whole lot of soul searching, we have decided to close our doors. It’s a bittersweet ending to a business we are so incredibly proud of, but for us, this is the right path forward.”

Outer Limits set the stage for the Aug. 27 announcement by shutting down in early July. The brewery’s website is dominated by an image reading “We are closed for the summer − Thank you for understanding.”

Now that the brewery is closed permanently, the founders are taking a moment to reflect on what was.

“Endings are hard but we walk away feeling proud and accomplished,” the social-media post reads. “Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.”

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com .

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont brewery hit by pandemic, floods announces closure after five years in business