FAC E S BY PAM HUNT
The
Women behind
Vermont’s Brewing Industry
PHOTO BY KAREN PIKE
Gretchen Langfeldt, Plant Engineer SWITCHBACK BREWING COMPANY When Gretchen Langfeldt graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in mechanical engineering, she took a part-time job at Switchback
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BREWVIEW Vermont 2021 Issue 2
Brewing Company to make some money and “maybe get some free beer,” she admits. Now, 16 years later, Gretchen is an integral part of one of Vermont’s longest-running breweries. “I had the opportunity to do a little bit of everything as we grew from a three-person crew to a now 30-plus
employee-owned company,” she says. Over her years at the company, she has grown from a keg scrubber to helping to plan the packaging line and the brewery’s expansion. “My days look a little different now, but the satisfaction of starting with a bunch of raw ingredients and two weeks later having a finished beer in a keg, bottle, or can head out the