Third Place, the company behind American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, has taken an ownership stake in Stowe's Idletyme Brewing, said Third Place co-founder Paul Sayler.

The Idletyme management and employee teams will remain intact and continue to run the business with Third Place in a supporting role, Sayler explained. He hinted that "there is a collaboration afoot" on the brewing side between American Flatbread in Burlington and Idletyme's brewery, which is headed by Will Gilson. The two men have known each other for decades, Sayler said.

Idletyme Brewing's restaurant and brewery have occupied 1859 Mountain Road since November 2015. The spot is best known as the longtime home of the Shed Restaurant and Brewery, which closed in 2011.



Sayler and Rob Downey founded Third Place in 2004. Over the years, the company has provided support and funding to other local food and beverage brands, including the Farmhouse Group, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery and Monarch & the Milkweed.

Sayler was the original brewer at American Flatbread in Burlington where his wife, Destiny Saxon, is head brewer.  In contrast to many Vermont breweries, American Flatbread and Idletyme Brewing operate exclusively as brewpubs in which the beer they brew is available only to onsite customers; neither packages its beer for off-premise consumption.

The brewpub approach allows for more customer education, Sayler said. For example, the brewer and staff can explain an unusual style like a Flanders red, a barrel-aged sour ale. "If you don't have a chance to give them a brief explanation, they don't know what to expect," Sayler said. "With a brewpub, you have an audience you can talk directly to."

While details and timeline of the new venture have yet to be determined, Sayler continued, "There is excitement about taking what is happening at these two breweries and making it greater than the sum of its parts... There will be some sparks flying."