Barre brewpub's renovation a family affair
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By David Delcore Staff Writer - Published: January 13, 2008
BARRE – There's something brewing in downtown Barre today.
For the first time since a Veterans Day fire put Stonecutters Brewhouse temporarily out of business there's a fresh batch of beer in the fermenters and Bud Stevens and his kid brother Jason say they're just days away from reopening their popular pub and restaurant.
"It might not look like it, but we're almost there," Stevens said Saturday.
Standing next to a table saw on the dust-covered mahogany floor that is a post-fire addition at Stonecutters Brewhouse, Stevens said renovations – most of which have nothing to do with the Nov. 11 fire – are nearly complete and the new-look pub should be back in business come Friday.
"We're all busting our butts so that can happen," Stevens said of a work crew that on Saturday included both brothers, their parents, family friend Richard Spitzer and the pub's "brew master," Tony Lubold.
Stevens said Lubold was planning to return today to start whipping up a batch of the pub's "pale ale" in preparation for the opening.
"We need more beer," he said.
The brothers were able to salvage roughly 140 gallons of beer in the wake of the fire, which started when a hot water heater malfunctioned. Stevens said most of that beer was their Irish red ale, one of the pub's most popular beverages. They plan to rename it "Fire Engine Red Ale."
"We've already got a logo for it," he said.
The name was inspired by the November fire that caused little structural damage, but left the brothers with a soggy, soot-stained pub that has remained closed for the past two months.
According to Stevens, insurance-related delays coupled with a decision to renovate kept the pub closed for longer than the brothers had expected.
"We wanted to be open before Christmas," he said. "Obviously, that didn't happen."
Patrons will notice plenty of changes when the pub reopens on Friday.
The brothers have doubled the size of the kitchen, acquired a deep fryer that will enable them to expand the pub's menu, and taken steps to address some of the problems they noticed during their first few months in business.
"What we learned is that people have a tendency to come in large groups," Stevens said, explaining the bar stools and tall, small tables that once lined one of the pub's walls didn't accommodate crowds well.
Stevens said they snapped up several booths, a large table and other items at an auction that was held at Miguel's Stowe Away in Burlington earlier this month and have ordered a seven-foot-long granite table from Barre Tile.
The brothers have also created an overflow space where customers waiting for tables can enjoy a drink in advance.
"We're hoping 2008 has a different spin," Stevens said Saturday. "Everything is going to be a lot better this go-round."
The pub had an unusually eventful 2007.
Shortly after opening Granite City Brewing in May the brothers received a not-so-friendly letter from the patent lawyer representing the irked executives of Granite City Food & Brewery – a publicly traded company that operates a chain of 19 upscale American restaurants in nine Midwestern states. Rather than risk a threatened lawsuit over trademark infringement the brothers decided to change the name of their establishment to Stonecutters Brewhouse.
Problem solved?
Not quite.
After making the well-publicized name-change the brothers learned that an East Calais corporation had recently registered the trade name "Stonecutter's Pub and Brewery" with the Vermont Secretary of State's Office. That news came after they retooled their hammer and chisel logo, took a shipment of etched beer glasses and screen-printed T-shirts and ordered a new sign.
Then came the fire – a small, but potentially devastating blaze that did just enough damage to close the pub for the last two months of the year.
While his brother settles back into running the pub, Stevens said he'll be turning his attention back to the next phase of a five-year plan that began when they opened a part-time home brew supply business on Depot Square two years ago.
The plan at the time, according to Stevens, who has a business degree, was to open the pub and eventually a brewery.
"We're a few months behind schedule," he said, explaining he had initially hoped for a September opening for the brewery if everything had gone according to script.
Still there's reason for optimism.
According to Stevens, several local investors have expressed interest in the project and the off-site brewery could be up and running by this summer.
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