Since the early days of Vermont’s craft beer boom, all roads have led to Waterbury. As the original home of the Alchemist and now Freak Folk Bier, Prohibition Pig, Big Tree Brewing and the Alchemist’s production facility, the town’s streets have long been lined with hype chasers looking to grab the latest hazy IPA or wild-fermented sour.

And since 2013, Craft Beer Cellar has been the place to skip those lines — and find rare “white whale” bottles and cans only dreamed of elsewhere.

As of February 27, the shop at 3 Elm Street has a new name: Vermont Beer Collective. It also has a recently launched bar, where customers can enjoy full pours from the likes of Hill Farmstead Brewery, Kraemer & Kin, Wunderkammer Biermanufaktur and Boston’s Trillium Brewing.

The changes mark a new era under owners Liz and Nate Dunbar, 34 and 37, who bought the business on May 31 and have been slowly rebranding, even as they have weathered two floods and prepared to welcome their second child.

Craft Beer Cellar fans shouldn’t worry: The store is still stocked with an incredible inventory of local and not-so-local producers, including those white whales. Its selection has always been curated by its in-the-know staff, Nate explained.

Making beer and going to breweries have long been hobbies of the Waterbury Center couple, and Craft Beer Cellar is “a landmark here in Vermont and in Waterbury,” Nate said. When they saw the shop was on the market, their only concern was that it was a franchise.

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• Courtesy
• Nate and Liz Dunbar

“In our adventure to start our own business, never once did we explore anything like opening a Dunkin’ or a McDonald’s,” Nate said. “We really wanted something of our own.”

Hence the shop’s new identity, which will free the couple from paying royalties to the hands-off franchise owners. The Dunbars’ decision to rebrand predates the closure of Craft Beer Cellar’s flagship store in Belmont, Mass., at the end of 2023 and its founders’ recent bankruptcy filing.

The Vermont Beer Collective name and logo began popping up in the shop after the bar’s soft launch on December 14 — coincidentally, the 10-year anniversary of the shop’s opening — but the Dunbars have otherwise kept the transition quiet. They also haven’t advertised the new taproom, which nonetheless drew a group of nearly 30 people on a recent Saturday bar crawl.

The small bar takes over the shop’s original growler filling area, which had been used as a retail display since the demand for growlers dropped during the pandemic, Nate said. It now features eight regular taps and a three-tap LUKR tower custom made in the Czech Republic, with seating for 10, standing room and a dartboard.

While the bar is open during the shop’s regular hours, it operates on a separate license; legally, on-premise consumption and retail can’t commingle. Nate is working with the state legislature to have that changed, but for now, customers can’t enjoy their beers while they browse the shelves or sit on couches in the big window bays.

That didn’t bother me as I found my way past the stanchions on a quiet Thursday afternoon. I perused the menu as mountain bike and ski videos played on TVs behind the bar.

So far, the frequently rotating tap list has included rare gems from Zero Gravity Craft Brewery’s pilot system, Wunderkammer’s mixed-culture wild ales, Trillium’s Congress Street IPA and Hill Farmstead’s Anna. Vermont Beer Collective is also the first and only place to serve Wildbranch Cider on tap.

“We’re trying to keep our draft list as unique and rare as possible — something you’re not going to get most other places,” Nate said.

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• Courtesy
• Separate bar and retail spaces at Vermont Beer Collective

Tempted by a glass of Wildbranch, I remembered I was in beer heaven and opted instead to grab a bottle of the Craftsbury cidery’s excellent single-varietal Ashmead’s Kernel on the way out.

A glass of River Roost Brewery’s Project Object #22 ($8 for 12 ounces), a citra-hopped double IPA from the White River Junction brewery’s experimental series, paired nicely with a vegan Belgian Liège waffle from the short-and-sweet snack menu. The latter is made by Vafels, a Colorado-based company founded by a University of Vermont alum and popular among mountain bikers.

Nate, who is on the board of the Waterbury Area Trail Alliance, said he and Liz want to make Vermont Beer Collective a place for the outdoor sports community to gather.

“Or grab summit beers,” he added with a laugh.

Watching mountain bikers on the screen behind the bar is about as close as I ever get to a summit. But Nate’s enthusiasm — and the prospect of gleaning from the shop team’s extensive beer knowledge — is its own kind of rush.