48 Beer Project visits West Virginia

UPDATE — Weathered Ground will release Emergence Saison later this summer as its contribution to the 48 Beer Project.

If you like artful beer labels as well as artful beer, the 48 Beer Project is right up your alley. Portland, Maine artist Heidi Geist is in the midst of a year-long brewery tour that will leave her mark on beer across the country. Brilliant Stream caught up with Geist recently when she stopped at Weathered Ground Brewery in Cool Ridge, West Virginia.

An accomplished beer label artist, Geist selected one brewery in each state, where she will work with the owners and design a custom label for a special beer. She bought and outfitted an old school bus as her home and studio, and set off this fall on her journey. She plans to spend about a week in each of the 48 contiguous states, meaning the entire mission will take around a year to complete.

Geist describes the project as “a mass creative collaboration, nationwide, connecting craft beer, art, and all the folks in the middle.”

In selecting breweries to work with she sought out ones with owners “who were really passionate about what they are doing and passionate about their customers.” She prefers family-based businesses that run family-friendly operations. She sought breweries with taprooms that were active communal spaces, calling them “the family room of America today.”

“It feeds back into the energy of the space,” she said, explaining her preference for family-involved breweries. “It definitely changes everything. It makes it more intimate. You feel more connected to the ownership and to the product. I think they care more about what they’re producing.”

She found everything she was looking for at Weathered Ground Brewery. With its family involvement, work with local food trucks, hiring local bands, promoting local arts, hosting fund raisers for non-profits, promoting local small business, it made Weathered Ground a perfect candidate. 

“It’s all supporting local businesses and feeding back into the local community,” she said. She also knows Weathered Ground has a reputation for brewing excellent beer.  

Weathered Ground co-owner and head brewer, Sam Fonda, was happy to be selected as the brewery representing West Virginia for her project.”We’re just very proud that she chose us,” Fonda said. “She’s a very creative and very passionate about craft beer.” 

While the exact Weathered Ground beer for the label project has not yet been decided, Fonda says it will likely be for one of the brewery’s first bottle releases, which should occur sometime in the first half of next year. Fonda says they should have a decision on the beer soon.

“Working with Heidi will hopefully be the motivation to get us in gear with packaging,” Fonda said. Currently the brewery only packages beer in kegs. The brewery had earlier discussed its plans to add some small-scale bottling equipment so it could have more types of products to sell. While nothing is set in stone, they are looking toward next spring as a potential start date.

Ice storm helps bond brewery, artist

The first night of Geist’s Weathered Ground stay, the brewery was hit with an ice storm that knocked out power for several days. “We were stuck in our house all weekend,” Fonda said, “and I think a lot of good came from that. We’ll probably remain friends long after the project.”

Fonda says during her stay Geist even went to a tap takeover in Beckley with the Weathered Ground crew and helped work the merchandise table. “She was really passionate about this project and craft beer and about getting to know our family and the brewery.”

Prior to beginning this project, Geist had already contributed design work for breweries all around the county, having done her first beer label a few years back with hometown Portland brewery Bissell Brothers. Her 48 Beer Project brewery list reads like a who’s who of premier smaller American craft breweries. Among them are Allagash, Foam, Plan Bee, Bond Brothers, Civil Society, Creature Comforts, Perennial, Prairie, Casa Agria, Melvin, Epic, and Funk Factory, to name just a few.

In our Appalachian region she has selected some great ones, including Birds Fly South, Blackberry Farm, Dancing Gnome, and Jackie O’s. That puts Weathered Ground in some pretty select company. 

Getting more creative art onto beer labels sounds like a very worthy project. It’s clear that Heidi Geist has fallen in love with parts of America’s craft brewing industry and wants to contribute to its success. Over the next year it will be fun to see all the special brews and special labels her project creates.
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