Outer Limits Brewing lures apres-ski crowd to outer limits of southern Vermont

Brent Hallenbeck | Burlington Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Outer Limits Brewing in southern Vermont aims to open minds about beer Proctorsville brewery opened this summer and has its own beer on tap including a dark mild, pale ales and an oatmeal stout

PROCTORSVILLE - It feels like the outer limits to a resident of Chittenden County — where the heck is Proctorsville, anyway? — but this southern Vermont brewery just might be worth the drive.

What is the place?

Outer Limits Brewing opened in July in a striking, brick 1850s woolen mill located on the similarly fetching village green in Proctorsville, a hamlet in the Windsor County town of Cavendish. Ski towns and breweries seem like a perfect match for the apres crowd, and Outer Limits is less than a 10-minute drive from Ludlow's Okemo Mountain Resort.

“We are going to have a lot of skiers here,” said Taylor Shaw, who opened Outer Limits with her husband, Wesley Tice. The brewery has six of its own English-leaning beers on draft with plans to expand to 14 taps and start canning this month, according to Shaw. Those beers pair nicely with the wings, pizza, salads and meat-and-cheese boards served from the kitchen.

“We have a really inviting, comfortable atmosphere,” Shaw said. “Our staff is always smiling. And we have great beer.”

What’s the story behind it?

Shaw is from Connecticut and attended Okemo Mountain School. Tice is from Oswego, New York, and had been an organic farmer before going to work for Shipyard Brewing Co. in Maine and making the career change to brewing his own beer. His organic-farming background infuses Outer Limits, which recycles its spent grain used in brewing and buys many of its food items from farms across Vermont.

The couple met in Ithaca, New York, and moved from Maine to Vermont after buying the building that now houses Outer Limits in the spring of 2017. Shaw, who has long worked in the restaurant industry, said she is happy to again be in the shadow of Okemo.

“It was always like home to me,” she said.

Location and information

Outer Limits Brewing, 60 Village Green, Proctorsville. 3-8 p.m. Wednesday, noon-8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday. (802) 287-6100, www.outerlimitsbrewing.com.

Do you have a new restaurant, a new brewery or a new food truck you’d like to tell people about? Maybe you want to spread the word about a new chef, a big new dish or an exciting new drink. Contact staff writer Brent Hallenbeck at (802) 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.