Fiddlehead Brewing Company

Fiddlehead Brewing Company is a Vermont craft brewery built around a simple promise: make “approachable, multidimensional” beer with obsessive consistency. The brewery opened in Shelburne (just outside Burlington) on New Year’s Eve 2011, with founder and brewmaster Matt Cohen aiming to perfect one flagship draft IPA and scale responsibly from there.

What customers tend to notice first is how “clean” the experience feels, both in the beer and the way it’s handled. Fiddlehead insists on cold storage because its beer is unpasteurized, and the brewery is explicit about why it matters: freshness, aroma stability, and avoiding off-flavors that can show up when beer warms up on the shelf.

What they make reminded by their flagship

Fiddlehead’s best-known beer is Fiddlehead IPA, a well-balanced American IPA (6.2% ABV, 53 IBU) designed to be hop-forward without being punishing, with a dry, refreshing finish and “dank, pine, resiny” notes.

They also brew seasonals, taproom exclusives, and higher-gravity offerings. One of the standouts is Mastermind Double IPA, a hazy-leaning double IPA that ties directly to their community giving program.

Visiting the tasting room

The brewery’s tasting room and original production site is at 6305 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT, set up for pints and growler fills, plus cans and bottles to take home. There’s indoor and outdoor seating, first come first served, and a retail merch selection that includes glassware, apparel, and gifts.

A few practical notes for visitors:

• No kitchen on-site, but guests can bring food or order from next-door Folino’s Pizza

• No reservations and no tours (per their FAQ)

• They do not fill outside growlers; they use their own growlers with a deposit system

• They sell kegs of Fiddlehead IPA directly from the tasting room (with deposits and ID requirements)

Hours change seasonally, but the brewery posts “current hours” on its tasting room info and homepage.

Where to buy

Fiddlehead does not ship beer directly. Instead, it distributes through retail accounts across Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maine, and it provides a “beer finder” list to help customers locate recent delivery accounts.

Community giving and growth

Fiddlehead ties part of its brand to community impact through the Team Mastermind Fund: 25% of all sales of Mastermind Double IPA are donated to support grants focused on pediatric health and broader community wellness.

On the operations side, the brewery describes major production expansion in 2021 (moving to a 60-barrel brewhouse and upgrading canning and fermentation capacity). The company also states that, by 2024, it had grown into one of the largest craft producers in the U.S. and the largest Vermont-owned brewery.