The window is open - Weird Window Brewing in South Burlington, that is

SOUTH BURLINGTON – A space that once housed a brewery in a light-industrial area of South Burlington is again home to a beermaker.

What is the place?

Jack Droppa opened Weird Window Brewing on Ethan Allen Drive on July 18 in the spot where Canadian brewer Farnham Ale & Lager ran a U.S. branch for four years until June 2019. Coincidentally, Weird Window shares a structure with a company called Window World that sells actual windows.

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Weird Window has nine beers on tap. “Right now we have everything from a Kolsch to a stout,” said Droppa, who’s also serving two New England India pale ales, two New England double IPAs, a brown ale and what has been his most-popular beer so far, a slightly spicy jalapeno cream ale.

“I don’t necessarily drink one style,” Droppa said. “I always wanted, if I had a brewery, a beer for everyone who walks in the door. Having a range of beer was important to me.”

Droppa’s business has capacity for 49 visitors, but at the moment offers seating for 28 visitors in the taproom and at a patio out front. A prep kitchen produces meat-and-cheese plates, salsa and chips, popcorn and pickled vegetables. The beer is available at The Daily Planet restaurant in Burlington and in Droppa’s taproom in pints, half-pours, flights and 750-ml to-go bottles. Droppa plans to start canning, possibly this fall.

What’s the story behind it?

A Maryland native, Droppa began homebrewing as a student at St. Lawrence University in northern New York and later brewed beer on his stove in his apartment while working on ski patrol in Utah. A college friend who taught him how to brew recommended him for a job at a California brewery, starting Droppa’s beer career.

His wife, Emily Droppa, took a job in Vermont and Jack Droppa found work at Otter Creek Brewing and later in Hinesburg at Frost Beer Works. He was on leave from Frost last year while recuperating from a ski-related knee injury when he learned the Farnham space was opening up, accelerating Droppa’s plans to eventually start his own brewery.

Droppa wears his passion for beer on his sleeve, or at least his right forearm, which bears a tattoo of a hop. The couple’s chummy 2-year-old standard poodle, Citra, is named for a variety of hops.

And what’s with the literally weird name, Weird Window? Droppa said he and his wife noticed those half-sideways windows that adorn the upper reaches of many rural Vermont houses and wondered “What’s with those weird windows?” A friend suggested Droppa call his new brewery by the name given to those curiosities, witch windows. Droppa opted to avoid the Halloween imagery and go with a name that could be weird all year.

What’s it like opening in a pandemic?

Weird Window was originally scheduled to open in March, but construction delays followed by COVID-related delays pushed those plans off. Droppa decided that once the state loosened restrictions on crowds at restaurants and drinking establishments that he’d open in mid-July.

Weird Window took reservations on its first weekend and was so busy Droppa had to turn people away. “We were shocked,” Droppa said. “I didn’t think that would happen. It was a really cool feeling.”

Location and information

Weird Window Brewing, 82 Ethan Allen Drive, South Burlington. Taproom hours 4-8 p.m. Thursday, noon-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. (802) 489-5279, www.weirdwindowbrewing.com.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

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