Vue Brewing Company

HalleVuejah
Vue Brewing Company, Southington
November 2025

Do you know what smudging is? I don’t believe in the practice, but…

Smudging is an ancient spiritual practice, prominent in many Indigenous cultures, involving burning sacred herbs like sage or sweetgrass to cleanse spaces, objects, or people of negative energy, invite positive vibes, promote healing, and foster balance.

I don’t know Justin Dawley or his wife – the team behind Vue Brewing – but I would not begrudge them if they smudged this place.

I guess, in a sense, their business model and brewing schedule has served as an effective smudge. Confused?

Let me back up.

The tiny corner of the nondescript corrugated steel warehouse on a dead end street off of Lazy Lane in Southington has hosted three breweries since 2019. This is remarkable because Southington hasn’t allowed this building to be zoned as a brewery as we’ve come to understand them in the 21st century. That is, while beer can be brewed and sold in packaged cans and bottles, beer cannot be purchased for drinking from a brewery here.

Old heads will recall this is how it was everywhere until the sweeping brewery law changes of the 20-teens. Newer drinkers will scratch their heads and note, accurately, that there are currently other normal breweries in Southington.

But let’s stick to this location. First we had Skygazer Brewing from 2019-2020. Part of that original team left to go brew their slushies and lactose & alcohol things down at Twelve Percent in North Haven. The brewer that stayed behind changed the name to Transcend Beer Crafters. That guy continued to also make ridiculous fruit and sugar gloop and asinine pastry stouts. Both were and still are successful in late 2025… they just aren’t for me.

Transcend wanted a much larger space and a kitchen and a true bar and… he moved his operation to Plainville. Enter Vue Brewing, which opened in the same space in April 2025.

And, halleVuejah, Vue couldn’t be more different than its predecessors here.

Vue’s mission is to “create a product that everyone can enjoy.” The breweries that were formerly here make concoctions people like my wife (lactose intolerant), some of my in-laws (diabetic), nor I (try to drink actual beer) could enjoy. Furthermore, Vue says 100% of the batches brewed at Vue Brewing Company are brewed to reduce gluten That is, during the brewing process, a natural enzyme is added that will break down the gluten proteins, reducing the risk of causing adverse reactions to gluten sensitive digestive systems. So even most gluten intolerant people can enjoy Vue beer.

If you remember another Connecticut brewery that used that process, you may be remembering correctly. It was Firefly Brewing in Bristol. And guess what? Vue’s Justin Dawley spent eight years at Firefly before it closed in 2023.

So you can enjoy Vue’s beers if you are a lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, diabetic, classic beer style drinker! A ray of sunshine has parted the clouds in this corner of Southington!

But… as of late 2025, you can’t just hang and order a couple beers like a proper human here. What you can do is buy a rather nice souvenir Vue glass for 9 bucks and then sample some of their beer. Because that makes sense.

The set up here hasn’t really changed from Skygazer to Transcend to Vue. The joint is small and there’s really not much need for a large seating area for the aforementioned “you can’t really come with your boys to hang for a couple hours” reasons.

I sat at the bar. I stared at the beer choices. I was offered samples of whatever I wanted – true little 1 ounce samples, that is. I stared some more. I thought about my smudging idea. Just a year ago, in this very seat, I could have bought a “pumpkin, apple, and pear cheesecake smoothie” beer type thing. Don’t laugh, that is a very real, currently available as I write this, Transcend offering. Now I was confronted with:

No Cap, a 4.6% ABV American pilsner. Kustoms Kreme Ale, a cream ale that gives a percentage of its proceeds to the Special Olympics. Poppycock, a – get this – an English pub beer! Gemma, a Vienna lager! A straight up goshdarn stout! And a classic, toasty, winter warmer. Talk about a change in this building!

I chose the English pub beer and I enjoyed it very much. I also enjoyed my conversation with Justin who, thankfully, had no idea who I am. I only offered that I’m old, which he could tell by looking at me, and that I don’t drink much beer anymore, and that I used to be pretty into the Connecticut beer scene when it was blowing up 10 years prior. Even so, Justin never badmouthed anyone from Transcend, spoke fondly of “his friend Matt’s” new West Coast IPA from Counter Weight, and updated me on Firefly Dana Bourque’s doings at a coffee shop in my hometown.

We talked Buffalo Wings and J. Timothy’s commitment to both wings and Connecticut beer and ESPN, which is right up the road. I sampled the pils and the lager and both were on point; properly bready and dry and translucent. Adjectives that are entirely new in this building.

It was lovely visit, but it was lonely. No one else came in while I was there, and if you like properly made proper beer, come here. But some to go. Exorcise your prior “smoothie milkshake ‘beer'” sins.

You’ll feel good about yourself and about the world. Halle-Vue-jah indeed.

Vue Brewing
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