Native Vermonters Matt and Andrea Stanley met in the late 1990s, as the Vermont beer boom was getting ready to explode. The two loved to find different beers together and Andrea always said beer was her favorite food.
That changed more than a decade ago, when she began having intestinal troubles caused by food and drink containing gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, and rye, ingredients used in beer.
To save herself from regular intestinal agony, Andrea went gluten-free about 10 years ago. That meant no more beer for her, or so it seemed. Matt tried making beer for her. It didn’t go well… until he went gluten-free five years after her.
That led to Red Leaf Gluten-Free Brewing, which Matt began in the garage next to the couple’s Fairfax home in September 2018. In May 2019, he opened a Red Leaf tasting room in Jeffersonville. And in 2022, they bought property on Main street which became the new home of Red Leaf. And the rest was history. “ – Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press