Catching up on WV craft brewery history

As West Virginia enters a period of rapidly increasing commercial beer brewing activity, it is worth taking a few minutes to review the state’s contemporary brewing history.

Old School brewing ends

In 1971, Little Switzerland Brewing Company, the state’s last traditional independent brewery, ceased operation in Huntington. Thus ended a local brewing heritage that had its roots in the 19th century and had then restarted following the end of Prohibition.

When Little Switzerland closed, we saw the total ascendency of the big, national mega-brands, such as Budweiser, Miller, Pabst, and Stroh. West Virginia was not alone in experiencing this loss of local beer. By 1978, only 89 breweries remained in business in the entire nation, and many of those were owned by Big Beer. As the 1980s took shape, so did a resurgence of small local breweries in many parts of the country. It started as a trickle, then picked up steam in the 1990s.

Brewpub legislation spurs new breweries

West Virginia’s local brewing culture stayed dormant until 1991 when state legislation was adopted allowing the establishment of a new class of brewery, the brewpub. Prior to that, a brewery was allowed to brew and package beer but could only sell its production to wholesale distributors.

The brewpub was a new class of license that allowed a small brewery to make beer and sell it by the glass to customers at its in-house brewery pub. Brewpubs were also allowed to self-distribute their extra beer to other retail accounts without going through a beer distributor. That was a much more potentially profitable business model for a small, start-up brewery. Other states had been having success with this model, and in West Virginia, it was this legislation that kicked off the current wave of small breweries we have today.

In 1992, Morgantown saw the establishment of the state’s first brewpub when the short-lived One Onion Brewery opened downtown on University Avenue. After getting new owners, the brewery transitioned to become West Virginia Brewing, which continued until the mid-2000’s before transitioning again to become Morgantown Brewing Company, which still exists today.

In the mid-1990s, we began seeing more brewpubs open around the state, falling in line with the hot microbrewery climate found around the country at the time. Wheeling attracted a major investment from the owners of Denver’s Wynkoop Brewing, who established the beautiful Nail City Brewing in a redeveloped old downtown building. Huntington saw a group of local investors put a ton of money into remodeling a prime corner space downtown and turning it into the showcase Brew Bakers brewery, bakery, and restaurant. Cardinal Brewing, the state’s first distribution brewery in more than 20 years, opened in Charleston. For a short time, it appeared as if West Virginia might be catching up with the national enthusiasm for microbreweries, but we soon learned otherwise. Good enabling legislation and willing investors alone were not enough to make a business profitable.

WV breweries hit a rough patch

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, a major shakeout in brewpubs took place across the nation, as the market weeded out weaker businesses from the overheated microbrewery scene. A sufficient number of customers just weren’t yet available to drink all the beer being made. Investors had misread the market potential and had over invested for the amount of sales they could generate.

During that period in West Virginia, the major brewpub investments in Huntington (Brew Bakers) and Wheeling (Nail City) went out of business after only a brief run. Both were reorganized into other brewery operators, but both of those failed as well. In Charleston, Cardinal Brewing, the state’s only non-brewpub microbrewery, went under. The closings shook the state’s small brewery industry. Investors and operators found the going tough. For many years, that hangover kept significant new investment out of the sector.

Fortunately, several of the 1990s-heritage brewpubs navigated through the rough waters and made it into the next decades. The state’s original brewpub licensee, One Onion in Morgantown, was one. Though the business suffered through multiple name changes, reorganizations, ownership changes, and bankruptcy, today’s Morgantown Brewing Company can trace its heritage to that original brewpub. It still brews today on some of the original 1992-vintage brewing equipment.

North End Brewing, which opened in Parkersburg in 1997 after buying the brewing equipment of the failed Cardinal Brewing in Charleston, is located in the state’s oldest tavern: North End Tavern, which was founded in 1899. North End Brewing celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022 and is the state’s longest continuously operating brewery location under the original ownership.

Blackwater Brewing, founded in 1998 in Davis, operated at its original location until 2018, though it changed owners in 2012.

Long hangover ends in 2009

Things remained slow for state brewers through the mid-2000s, but by the late 2000s, the current craft beer revolution began to take shape. In 2009, when new state legislation raised the alcohol cap on beer from 6% to 12%, the state became instantly more attractive to craft brewery investors. While West Virginia was slower than most other states to begin seeing widespread investment, our craft brewery explosion hit full stride in the 2010s.

Of today’s 34 operating West Virginia breweries, 27 were founded from 2010 to 2020. Of those 27,  nineteen started up since 2015.  Seven began brewing since 2019, with four opening in 2022.

Small food and beverage industry businesses always have turnover, but small breweries have been very stable overall. In the decade of the 2010s, we saw only six breweries permanently close (Mountaineer Brewing, Martinsburg, in 2011; Lost River Brewing, Wardensville, 2018; Morgantown Brewing production brewery, Westover, 2018; Mash Brewing, Charles Town, 2018; Blackwater Brewing, Davis, 2018, Walton Mountain Brewing, Walton, 2019).  In 2021, the state lost two brewers (Wheeling Brewing and Big Sandy Brewing). Small independent breweries are still by far the most dynamic part of the beverage alcohol industry in West Virginia today.

Significant brewery business opportunities exist

One could think that with all the new breweries, the industry in West Virginia might be getting overcrowded. Industry statistics tell a different story. A report by the Brewers Association, which is the trade association for independent craft brewers, shows that at the end of 2016, West Virginia ranked 50th out of all states and D.C. in the number of barrels of beer produced per capita. It ranked 49th in the total amount of beer produced. Compare that to the state’s ranking well up in the 30s for total beer consumed per capita, and you will see that a solid upside exists for our local brewing industry.

Demographic analysis suggests that great opportunities for additional brewpub businesses exist in Martinsburg, Charleston, Teays Valley, Huntington, Bridgeport, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Wheeling, Weirton, Beckley, and Bluefield. Even small towns located in tourism areas have the possibilities of supporting nice brewpub operations. For an example, one has to look no further than Thomas & Davis, two adjoining towns in Tucker County that, together, have about 1,200 full-time residents and two successful breweries or the brewery up on Snowshoe Mountain in Pocahontas County. Fayetteville, which is the gateway to the New River Gorge National Park, has two breweries.

While brewery names like Brew Bakers, Nail City, River & Rails, River City Ale Works, Bent Willey’s, Blackwater, and Mountaineer have come and gone, new names have taken their place. There has never been a better time for local beer in West Virginia. Cheers to our brewers and to all who support their businesses.

West Virginia Breweries • Updated June 2022

Name • Location • Year Licensed – Year Closed

One Onion Brewery, Morgantown, 1992-1994 ²
West Virginia Brewing, Morgantown, 1994-2008 ²
North End Brewing, Parkersburg, 1997 to present ¹
Blackwater Brewing, Davis, 1998-2018
Mountain State Brewing, Thomas, 2005 to present
Mountaineer Brewing, Martinsburg, 2007-2011
Morgantown Brewing (brewpub), Morgantown, 2009 ²
Lost River Brewing, Wardensville, 2009-2018
Bridge Brew Works, Fayetteville, 2010 to present
Chestnut Brew Works, Morgantown, 2013 to present
Basement Brewing/Wheeling Brewing, Wheeling 2013-2022 ³
Charleston Brewing/Bad Shepherd Beer, Charleston, 2013-present ¹¹
Big Timber Brewing, Elkins, 2014 to present
Greenbrier Valley Brewing, Maxwelton, 2014 to present
Berkeley Springs Brewing, Berkeley Springs, 2015 to present
Stumptown Ales, Davis, 2015 to present
Dobra Zupas, Beckley, 2015 to present
Screech Owl Brewing, Bruceton Mills, 2015 to present
Morgantown Brewing (production brewery), Westover, 2015-2018
Brew Keepers, Wheeling, 2016 to present
Parkersburg Brewing, Parkersburg, 2016 to present
Pubstomper Brewing, Westover, 2016-2018 ²²
Sophisticated Hound Brewing, Princeton, 2016 to present
Bannings Inc., Summersville, 2016  to present
Brewstel, Elkins, 2016 to 2020
Mash Brewing, Charles Town, 2016- 2018
Abolitionist Ale Works, Charles Town, 2017 to present
Short Story Brewing, Rivesville, 2017 to present
Weathered Ground Brewery, Cool Ridge, 2017 to present
The Peddler Brewpub, Huntington, 2017 to present
The Rambling Root, Fairmont, 2018 to present
Walton Mountain Brewing, Walton, 2018–2019
Freefolk Brewery, Fayetteville, 2018 to present
High Ground Brewing, Terra Alta, 2019 to present
Bavarian Brothers Brewing, Shepherdstown, 2019 to present
Rippon Brewing, Rippon, 2019 to present
Old Spruce Brewing, Snowshoe, 2019 to present
Cacapon Mountain Brewing, Berkeley Springs, 2020 to present
Big Draft Brewing, White Sulphur Springs, 2021 to present
Big Sandy Brewing, Bruceton Mills, 2021 to 2021
Amani Brewing, Martinsburg, 2022 to present
Fife Street Brewing, Charleston, 2022 to present
North Branch Brewing, Keyser, 2022 to present
Clendenin Brewing, Clendenin, 2022 to present
Charleston Nano Brewery, 2022 to present

Notes

¹ North End Brewing is the longest continuously operating brewery under the same ownership in the state — operating since 1997.

² One Onion Brewing was founded in 1992, and became West Virginia Brewing in 1994, and then transitioned to Morgantown Brewing in 2009. Technically speaking, Morgantown Brewing did not come into being until 2009, but its location has a brewery heritage (along much of its brewing equipment) that goes back to 1992.

³ Basement Brewing was founded in 2013 and became Wheeling Brewing in 2015. Wheeling Brewing closed permanently in January 2022.

¹¹ Charleston Brewing was founded in 2013 and became Bad Shepherd Beer Company in 2016

²² Pubstomper bought Morgantown Brewing in 2018 and now markets under the MBC name.

About the Author

Charles Bockway is a former beer, wine and spirits marketing representative who now writes and publishes BrilliantStream.com, a West Virginia focused craft beer website.

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An earlier version of this article was published in Vandaleer.com in December, 2016.