Dan Ukolowicz and Kara Pawlusiak have announced the upcoming closure of their 11-year-old Simple Roots Brewing and its tasting room at 1127 North Avenue in Burlington’s Ethan Allen Shopping Center. They expect to continue serving with normal hours through October, as their beer supply allows. A final special event is planned for Saturday, October 11.
The couple launched their brewery in 2014 in their New North End garage and expanded in 2016 to the shopping center taproom with an on-site brewing facility. Ukolowicz, 49, a former high school biology teacher, worked full time for the brewery for eight years before landing a job with Beta Technologies just over a year ago, his wife said. At that time, Simple Roots contracted with 14th Star Brewing in St. Albans to brew beer for distribution, while Ukolowicz continued to brew for the taproom. Pawlusiak, 46, worked as a school counselor the whole time.
She attributed the closure to declining sales, mentioning causal factors such as locals’ reduced alcohol consumption and tighter budgets and “a noticeable drop” in tourist traffic.
“The hardest part for us is closing an incredible community space where people have gathered for many years,” Pawlusiak said.
This article appears in Sep 10-16 2025.
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