Alchemist brewery plan hops a hurdle

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation issued the tentative permit. Now, it goes through a monthlong public comment period that will end Jan. 22.

The permit would allow the Alchemist to discharge up to 4,400 gallons of wastewater a day into the Stowe sewer system. However, the owners say, the brewery is unlikely to come close to that, because most water used in brewing beer isn’t actually wasted, since beer is mostly water anyway.

The Alchemist makes one of the world’s most popular, hardest-to-find beers, the double IPA Heady Topper (currently the No. 1 beer in the world, with daylight second, according to Beer Advocate).

The Alchemist business began as a Waterbury brewpub with a variety of beers. However, the restaurant and brewery was destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and a newly opened Alchemist cannery in Waterbury concentrated on making only one beer, Heady Topper.

But owners John and Jen Kimmich closed the cannery’s retail store to the public last year and have been looking to build a new brewery and retail spot ever since.

They chose a site on Cottage Club Road. The process of obtaining development permits has been lengthy, both at the local level — where some neighbors complained about potential traffic jams — and the state level. The Act 250 commission has been waiting for the wastewater treatment permit since October.

The Alchemist plans to make 10,000 barrels a year at the Stowe brewery, or 310,000 gallons. That breaks down to 850 gallons of beer a day, well under the threshold set by the Department of Environmental Conservation. Compare that to the already approved and nearly finished Trapps Lager brewery, which plans on making 50,000 barrels a year, 1.5 million gallons.

Last week, the Stowe Select Board approved a wastewater management and water source protection agreement with the Alchemist owners. They agreed that the brewery will have an onsite pre-treatment system for wastewater. Indeed, the innovative system is one of the aspects of the brewery that has owners John and Jen Kimmich most excited. Water will be treated with nitrogen and phosphorous and, through a sort of, well, alchemy, the byproduct will be a value-added product: blue-green algae. While blue-green algae has caused blooms in Lake Champlain, and can endanger aquatic life, it is also used as a source of dietary protein, B-vitamins, and iron, according to webmd.com, and is also used for weight loss, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, hay fever, diabetes, stress, fatigue, anxiety, depression, premenstrual syndrome and other health issues.

“More than anything, it’s the right thing to do,” Jen Kimmich told the Reporter last spring. “To be part of the solution is really cool.”