

When Jen Kimmich talks about The Alchemist ’ s environmental work, much of the discussion revolves around water treatment. A brewery ’ s waste water can have a significant environmental impact. It is not just that water is an important part of the final product. Its owners have taken an impressively proactive approach to dealing with ecological impacts of their business, seeming to consider every detail of its activities, always seeking to be as kind to the environment as possible.Ĭlearly, any brewery will use large amounts of water. With it came an opportunity to work sustainably. Unlike the older brewery, the new building was built specifically to be a brewery with direct sales. They decided to open a second brewery in Stowe and move all retail sales to that site.

However, a downside of their popularity was difficulty with heavy traffic and finding places for all their visitors to park, so they again had to close their tasting room and retail shop in 2013. Fortunately, the brewery was still operational. Just a day before the first product came off the production line, Hurricane Irene struck, destroying the brew pub. They opened their first production brewery, also in Waterbury, in 2011. Jen and John Kimmich opened The Alchemist as a 60-seat brew pub in 2003 in Waterbury, Vermont, and it quickly gained a devoted following. This reduces the biological oxygen demand of the water to about the level of three households.

Stage 2 of the biofilm reactor for processing waste.
