He has been brewing professionally his entire adult life, since 1996 when he started at a small Belgian brewery in Vermont. From there he went on a “fact-finding mission,” spending a few years at breweries that run the full spectrum of size—from Magic Hat Brewing Company (South Burlington, Vermont) to Coors—and style, from brewpub brewing to distilling at Dogfish Head Brewery (Milton, Delaware).
“I wanted to put boots on the ground at all the operations and get an idea of what I thought my stronger suits were,” Gerhart told me in a phone interview.
In 2009, he landed at Otter Creek in Middlebury, Vermont, which he calls his “final destination.” It does not, however, mean that he has slowed down.