Catamount Brewing Co. incorporated with the State of Vermont on Halloween of 1984, making it the very first craft brewery in the state of Vermont as well as a pioneer of small-batch brewing on the east coast.
They released many beloved beers including Catamount Gold, a hoppy golden ale, which won gold at the 1989 Great American Beer Festival, as well as Catamount Porter and Catamount Christmas Ale.
Catamount closed its doors in the spring of 2000. Later that summer, employee owned Mass. Bay Brewing Company purchased the Catamount Brewery and converted it to the Harpoon Brewery, where it fulfilled the long held dream of Catamount by opening a full service pub and beer garden – and where it released limited edition batches of Catamount beers from time to time.
But Mass. Bay Brewing didn’t only get a brewery out of the deal – they also got Brett Simmons, a Catamount Brewer who still brews at that very brewery to this day.
In collaboration with Mass. Bay brewers (and avid Catamount beer drinkers back in the day) Ryan Thompson and Tom Graham, Brett brewed Catamount IPA to bring the pioneering brand back for a new generation of Vermont beer drinkers.