The Droppas pour heart and beer into community.
When Jack ’11 and Emily Tulip Droppa ’09 launched Weird Window Brewing, they never imagined how pouring their craft beers at Reunion would reconnect them so deeply with the Laurentian community. Now in their fourth year serving at Reunion and Laurentian Weekend—and their second featuring St. Lawrence’s signature 1856 Lager and Scarlet and Brown Ale—they’ve discovered a creative way to stay connected to their alma mater while growing their South Burlington, Vermont brewery.
The response from alumni has been a highlight for the couple. “It’s awesome having people come up and say how cool it is that St. Lawrence has its own branded beers,” Jack says. “We’ve even had alumni stop by the brewery on their way home from Reunion.” Weird Window—a whimsical name the couple uses for those crooked windows on old farmhouses around Vermont—aims to offer an approachable and diverse selection of beers, rather than focusing on just one style of beer. Their welcoming taproom is located off the beaten path in an industrial part of town and typically serves up to 10 beers on tap, including a rotating selection of lagers, pale ales, IPAs, brown ales, and stouts with suitably “weird” names like Getting Ready to Get Down and We Named the Dog Citra.
Jack’s brewing journey started in the Steiner Senior Townhouses, his first year on campus. From stovetop batches in Dean Eaton to his first real kit gifted by Emily senior year, he steadily nurtured his craft. After graduating, the couple moved to Utah, where Jack worked as a ski patroller and brewed at home. But Emily, a North Country native from Ogdensburg, longed to be closer to family.
A cross-country move to Burlington brought them back East and into the heart of Vermont’s craft beer scene. Jack quickly climbed the brewing ranks—starting on a packaging line at Otter Creek, then advancing to brewer and eventually lead brewer. After a stint at Frost Beer Works, opportunity knocked in 2020 when a nearby brewery space went up for sale. They seized it. “It was in the three-to-five-year plan,” Jack says, “but it ended up being the three-to-five-month plan.”
Then the pandemic hit. “We were set to open in March 2020, but ended up opening in July with COVID restrictions in place,” says Emily. “It wasn’t the launch we envisioned, but we survived.”
That resilience—and versatility—they say, was rooted in their liberal arts education. “Being able to write professionally, think critically, connect with people, make decisions—those skills matter,” says Jack, a history major who still brews all the beers himself and wears every hat in the business.
Emily, a psychology major and former school counselor, had bartended at the Hoot Owl during college and put her skills to good use behind the bar at Weird Window until their daughter Alice was born. “I haven’t worked a taproom shift since she arrived,” she says. “But I still help with the website, the menus, the scheduling—whatever I can manage during nap time.” Alice, now 3, is a “regular” at the brewery, running through the taproom and helping “brew” from time to time. She even has a New England IPA named in her honor—“A” is for Alice.
Having reached Weird Window’s fifth anniversary, the Droppas now have a bar staff but remain committed to keeping the brewery small and community focused. “We don’t want to be the next national brand,” Jack says. “Beer is about people. It’s about place.”
That’s why their partnership with St. Lawrence feels so right. “It’s special to pour a beer for people who share our roots,” Jack says. He recently helped with the University’s Science of Brewing course, a full-circle moment that began with a surprise visit to the Weird Window taproom from Professor of Biology Joe Erlichman, who at the time didn’t realize Jack was an alumnus. The Droppas, who received an Alumni Citation at Reunion 2025, have also hosted on-site visits to educate students about the brewery during SLU Connect Burlington trips.
For Jack and Emily, Weird Window Brewing isn’t just a business—it’s a way to stay grounded, stay creative, and keep their St. Lawrence story going, one beer at a time.
