"The beer there is designed to be local, fresh. It's not designed to travel across an ocean," Van Anda said. Vermont has been a leader in the locavore movement, so a Vermont-made beer distributed and consumed chiefly in Vermont is a natural fit. The Trapp Brewery's lagers will be made using pure spring water from the Trapp estate's own mountaintop wells.
Although he recently ordered a two-spout bottler, Van Anda says he'll only use the labor-intensive machine to produce a very limited number of bottles for special events. Trapp lagers will be served on-site seven days a week at the brewery, which shares a building with the Trapp Family Lodge's deli and bakery. "You can sit down and have a cake and a beer," said Van Anda, who also hopes to make 1-liter flip-top bottles of draft lager available to visitors who'd like to take beer to go on a picnic or to consume at home. "It's two glasses of beer; it's perfect," he says of this option.
By mid-summer 2010, a full beer garden will be up and running behind the brewery. It will be an easy stop for guests utilizing the property's mountain biking and cross-country skiing trails and will overlook the stunning mountain vistas that inspired the von Trapps to make Stowe their new home.
