Beethoven composed symphonies and sonatas after he’d gone deaf. Jesse Lauer, the pastry chef at the Bearded Frog in Shelburne, has a comparable handicap in his chosen field. “I hate sweets,” he admits. “I don’t eat any of this stuff. I’ve never been a dessert guy.”... Read more

When Tiffany Brigham was choosing flowers, favors and music for her summer wedding at Sugarbush, she had an additional detail to work out: the couple’s signature cocktail. It’s something that brides weren’t thinking about even a decade ago. But these days the betrothed are often looking for “something you couldn’t get every day in a bar,” as Brigham puts it; something to make the day even more memorable.... Read more

With his ruddy cheeks and earnest demeanor, Kevin O’Grady certainly looks Irish. And a passerby on Stowe’s Mountain Road could be forgiven for thinking his namesake eatery is exclusively Irish, too — a classic pub with plenty of beer and hearty food.... Read more

Barre is known as a hub of Italian culture, but that doesn’t mean its residents don’t have a yen for Asian cuisines. John Fath, owner of Toscano Café Bistro in Richmond, sold his Barre restaurant, Lucia’s Italian Restaurant & Bar, late last year. This spring, it will reopen as Asian Gourmet.... Read more

During his last tour in Afghanistan, 16-year Army veteran Steve Gagner began wondering what he would do in retirement. It slowly dawned on him: Why not turn his passion for home brewing into a business?... Read more

“It’s always been a dream: Someday my husband and I were going to live in Vermont, and someday we were going to have a restaurant,” says Theresa House. At the end of 2011, five years after moving to the Green Mountains from their native Texas, she and husband Eric realized the second part of their vision: a barbecue restaurant called Mama T’s Country Kitchen at 245 South Main Street in Rutland.... Read more

The state’s craft spirits explosion has arrived in Windsor. A new vodka distiller, American Craft Spirits, will break ground there within months, fueled partly by a $101,250 grant from the Vermont Economic Development Authority.... Read more

A visitor could mistake the inside of 228 North Winooski Avenue for a small grocery, albeit one with an eclectic selection. Morning sunlight illuminates shelves neatly stocked with jars of peanut butter, bags of white rice and pasta, tins of tomatoes, loose tea bags, cans of drinking water, and boxes of bran flakes. A refrigerator holds packages of baby Brussels sprouts and small tubs of Cabot Greek Vanilla Bean Yogurt.... Read more

Jacob Finsen needs a new phone. “My Android screen is not necessarily doing so well,” he says. Plenty of other 29-year-olds have the same problem, but not for the same reason. Finsen blames pig grease for his ailing device.... Read more

Craft brewers may be hops-happy at the moment, but the American thirst for lager is still a powerful one — so much so that the Trapp Family Lodge Brewery is planning a multimillion-dollar expansion of its 1800-barrels-a-year facility. The eventual aim is to produce 50,000 barrels of its suite of Austrian-style lagers.... Read more