More Devils Backbone beer coming to WV

Devils Backbone Brewing Company (DBBC) is beefing up its commitment to the West Virginia market. The state is definitely seeing more Devils Backbone beer—variety that will soon grow even wider—and seeing greater promotional support too.

A recent pub crawl in Charleston proved that you can already find at least seven types of Devils Backbone beer on draught in the city’s downtown bars and nightclubs. Brian Coe, Territory Sales Manager for Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, who led the crawl, also made some very encouraging comments on DBBC’s commitment to supply beer to the state.

Coe is spending a good bit of time in West Virginia getting to know his wholesalers and familiarizing himself with the market. While the brewery will soon be adding a full-time sales representative here, Coe wants to get a head start on telling their story and getting more people tasting the beer.

When it entered the state last October, DBBC only brought in four brands. Over the past few months, however, DBBC Adventure Packs,  Cran-Gose and new canned packages have added greatly to the variety the brewery sells in WV.

Four categories to be sold here

Over the past few months, DBBC has been reorganizing its line up a bit, putting more of its brews in cans, developing new one-offs, and dividing its offerings into new groupings. All beer sent to WV will be available both in draught and bottles or cans.

For 2016, West Virginia will see the beer from these four categories:

Basecamp Favorites (Core year-round bottles and/or cans)
Vienna Lager (cans & bottles),
Eight Point IPA (cans & bottles),
Schwartz Bier (bottles only)

Daypack Series (Seasonals in 12-oz cans)
Cran-Gose (Feb.), Trail Angel Weiss (May), Bravo Four Point Session IPA (Aug.), and Ginger Brau Lager (Nov.).
Gold Leaf Lager (year-round)

Trail Blazers (Seasonals in 12-oz bottles)
Skull Crushing Ape (possibly April)
Cattywompus Belgian Pale Ale (May),
Pumpkin Hunter (Aug.),
Kilt Flasher Wee Heavy (Oct.)

Adventure Packs (Seasonal 12-packs. 12-oz bottles)
Collaboration Pack (winter),
Basecamp One-Offs (spring),
Family Member Favorites (summer),
Basecamp One-Offs (fall).

It’s also possible that an occasional limited-release specialty product (something high-gravity or barrel aged) could find its way into the state for a promotion, beer festival, or similar event—but due to state beer registration requirements, these occurrences will be rare.

Adventure Packs add variety

This year, West Virginia receives all the seasonal, specialty 12-packs in the Adventure Pack series. The first one, the Collaboration Sampler, arrived this winter and has proven quite popular. The spring pack, called Basecamp One-Offs, is now in the market and includes a delicious Pear Lager, the Five Apostles Saison, Golden Stag Blended Beer, and Black Rock Milk Stout.

The summer offering will be the Family Member Beer Project. It will contain beers that won an internal competition among employees at the brewery. Teams of non-brewers were paired with a brewer and each designed and brewed a beer. The best beers were selected for inclusion in the Family Member Beer Project.

The winter Adventure Pack debuted collaborations with NoDa Brewing Company of Charlotte, NC; Sun King Brewery of Indianapolis, IN; Surly Brewing Company of Minneapolis, MN; Thunder Road Brewing Company, from Australia; and Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville, NC. This is likely something the brewery will continue to do in future years.

Trail Blazers provide quality depth

This spring, West Virginia will see the introduction of the Trail Blazers series. Trail Blazers are favorite beers of the brewers,  released seasonally. For 2016 they include Cattywompus, Pumpkin Hunter, and Kilt Flasher Wee Heavy. (Some Skull Crushing Ape may make it to West Virginia this month or next. Danzig Baltic Porter  was released in early 2016 but was not shipped to West Virginia.)

The brewery states that Trail Blazers stray from the beaten path into a world of robust and daring beers featuring bigger, bolder flavors for fueling your spirit of adventure.  Each Trail Blazer has a story of adventure that is reflected in the artwork on the bottle and six-pack.

Cattywompus will be the first Trail Blazer sold across all WV markets. It should arrive here this May. Cattywompus is a Belgian-inspired pale ale with luscious hopping. It blends pine and citrus hop flavors with hints of apple and pear from a special Belgian yeast strain.

DBBC growing sales, facilities, capacity

DBCC sales have been strong during the initial months in the WV market. Coe says they are happy but believe there is a lot more potential.

Since launching in October, Coe says they’ve seen “about 20-25 percent sales growth month-to-month.”

When all numbers are in, he expects March sales will be upwards of 40% above February numbers. Even with the brand being new in WV, that seems like strong performance for sales during winter months. One important market within the state—Huntington—did not even receive its first shipment of Devils Backbone until late March.

As it is in Virginia, Vienna Lager has been the best seller here. Eight Point IPA and Gold Leaf Lager have also sold well. Coe promises other popular DBBC beers will be here soon.

“May will bring our most popular seasonal can—our Trail Angel Weiss,” says Coe, explaining that the brand is a signature beer for brewery owners Steve and Heidi Crandall, who are huge fans of German Hefeweizens.

DBBC developments are not restricted to WV, but have also been occurring at the home breweries.

Last August at Basecamp brewery, DBBC opened a 450-seat beer garden with a 20-tap outdoor bar, a wood fired outdoor grill, an event space, and a restored Civil War-era train depot. The space will be home to the Virginia Craft Brewers Festival this summer.

At its Outpost brewery, DBBC just installed three additional large fermenters to take annual production capacity up to 150,000 barrels.

“Our goal for 2016 is to hit 95,000 barrels,” says Coe, “and so far through the first quarter we are on track to do that.”

In addition to West Virginia, Devils Backbone beer is sold in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington DC. The brewery feels they still have much room for growth in each of these markets. It will likely be 2017 before DBBC adds more states to its sales footprint.

Devils Backbone is the largest selling craft beer in Virginia and one of the largest craft breweries in the Appalachian region.

DBBC brewer notes West Virginia influence

As reported last year in BrilliantStream.com, DBBC’s founding head brewer Jason Oliver first  developed his interest in craft beer while a student at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia in the 1990s. Back then, he remembers enjoying beers from Morgantown’s West Virginia Brewing Company and Charleston’s Cardinal Brewing Company.

Oliver started with Devils Backbone when it established its original Basecamp brewery in Roseland, VA, in 2008. In 2011, DBBC opened the Outpost brewery in Lexington. All the beer sent to West Virginia is brewed at Outpost—only about 50 miles from the WV border—giving it a local fresh flavor.

The DBBC brewing team has received medals from the World Beer Cup, Australian International Beer Awards, Virginia Craft Brewers Fest and the Great American Beer Festival® including national titles for GABF 2014 Mid-Sized Brewing Company and Brew Team of the Year, 2013 Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year and 2012 Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year.

For more information, visit the brewery website.