The brewery in the Ethan Allen Shopping Center at 1127 North Avenue in Burlington won’t be vacant long. On January 1, Simple Roots Brewing owners Kara Pawlusiak and Dan Ukolowicz announced that Tunbridge’s Upper Pass Beer would take over the taproom and production space Simple Roots occupied from 2016 until it closed on December 18.
Upper Pass managing partners Ivan Tomek and Chris Perry told Seven Days that they plan to reopen the taproom after receiving necessary permits and doing some painting, hopefully in February.
They’ve been looking to expand Upper Pass for a few years, Perry said. Simple Roots’ New North End spot had “a nice little vibe in a nice little neighborhood.”
“We saw how the market was changing,” he continued. “Instead of doing a big production factory, we thought, Maybe it will be nice to have a community brewpub.”
The Burlington location is also close to Upper Pass’ brewing and distribution hubs. While the microbrewery began on a one-barrel system in a converted sheep barn at Perry’s Tunbridge farmhouse in 2015, its First Drop American pale ale, Cloud Drop DIPA and other core brands have been produced by Zero Gravity Craft Brewery since the end of 2023.
That contract-brewing relationship will continue in order to meet wholesale demands in Vermont and around the Northeast, Tomek said.
Meanwhile, the new Burlington location will allow Upper Pass to bring back some of the small-batch suds it used to produce regularly in Tunbridge, such as sours, lagers and barrel-aged beers.
Perry, 51, and Tomek, 58, have also signed a lease on a storefront adjacent to the New North End brewery. When it becomes available over the next month or two, Tomek said, its additional 1,200 square feet will double available production space. The partners anticipate brewing up to 2,000 barrels per year on-site.
Upper Pass had a South Royalton tasting room for several years, but it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Burlington, Perry and Tomek plan to host food truck pop-ups and live entertainment.
“It can’t just be about the beer,” Tomek said, acknowledging an industry-wide slowdown amid challenges facing the beer market. “It’s gonna be the beer, the atmosphere, the little bit of food, and a little bit of live music now and again.”
“We just want to pick up where Dan and Kara left off,” Perry said.
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