Freefolk: metal, paint, music, beer

When good friends Jamie Lester and Jeff Edwards got together in 2012 to form a bronze casting company, they had no inkling that their business association would lead to them operating a craft brewery.

Already a force in the visual art world, Jamie and Jeff now have their sights set on creating a unique experience in a small craft brewery. Something tells us, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Freefolk Brewery in Fayetteville, WV is the place where it’s all coming together.

Inspired by travel

Over the past seven years, as they traveled around country and the world for Vandalia Bronze, their bronze casting business, Jamie and Jeff were always excited by their visits to small breweries.

“Arts and beer go together wherever you go,” Jamie asserts. “Beer is culture.” He said they thought, “Man, we could do something like this. We’re both passionate about beer and about creating things.”

And Jeff added, “We’re both guys who like to make things with our hands. I think craft beer is right up that alley.”

Arts, culture, beer

Jamie is best known as an accomplished artist — designer of the image on the West Virginia quarter; creator of the larger than life Morgantown sculptures of Jerry West, Don Knotts, and Hot Rod Hundley; and for creating the bronze reliefs at several halls of fame and monuments around the country. Jeff holds a passion for brewing beer. Both Jamie and Jeff are musicians and folk music aficionados. They are both strong proponents of Appalachian culture.

Visually, one can’t help but notice it at the brewery. The murals on the brewery walls seem to spring right out of folk music and Appalachia.

“We’re trying to feature and celebrate that culture,” Jamie said. They adopted the banjo as a proxy for the brewery’s aesthetic. With its African roots and adoption by American music of many genres, the banjo has become for them a symbol of unity and freedom.

Freefolk Brewery. sits at an intersection of interests. You see, a successful local brewery taproom today is not just about the beer. It’s about building community. Brewery taprooms need more than just good brews to draw in customers and build a devoted following.

Freefolk Brewery will use its strong devotion to the arts as a calling card, appealing to folks far and wide to come in and get immersed. It’s the metal work and sculpture around the building exterior. It’s the portraits of folk music legends painted on the walls inside. It’s the hand-made hop cone lights hanging from the ceiling. It’s the IPAs and stouts pouring from the taps. It’s the music pouring from the sound system. It’s the eclectic taco plates cooked up in the kitchen. It’s a total art immersion.

While their business is still in its infancy, and there is still much to prove from a business sense, its possibilities are evident.

Making approachable, enjoyable art

Similar to the feel they strive for in their visual and musical art, they also want their beer to be approachable to the people of the region. They think there is still a lot of room for West Virginia craft brewers to appeal to the domestic light beer drinker and help them bridge the gap to craft beer. They believe making several very good, easy drinking, low ABV beers is one way to approach that.

Jeff says he wants to be known as a brewer who brews in the traditional style of the English, the Germans, and the Belgians. He wants to widely explore the variants of popular historic ale and lager styles as well as brew the newer American ones.

“I tend to want to stay under 7% on the ABV,” Jeff says. “We’re an outdoor town.” He feels that lower ABV brews fit much better with the lifestyle and drinking preferences of his outdoor enthusiast customers, as well as with many local residents who are fans of lighter beer styles.

While he plans to keep a couple of nicely hopped IPAs on tap, he says he doesn’t shoot for a bitter hopping that much. “I mostly add hops in the whirlpool or late in the boil,” which gives more aroma and flavor but produces less bitterness.

Brewing system set up

They currently have a 3.5-barrel brewhouse consisting of a hot liquor tank, mash tun, and boil kettle. Fermentation space includes two 3.5 barrel fermentors, one 7-barrel fermentor, one 7-barrel bright tank, and one 3.5-barrel bright.

They already have their first big brewery capacity expansion in the works. Six additional 7-barrel unitank fermentors are on order. The guys expect delivery of the tanks by early June.

Beer & food & music

The guys will keep about 9 beers on tap. You will see English ales, IPAs, brown ale, blonde ales and more. As soon as their new tanks get installed, expect Freefolk to begin producing lagers too. There will always be a big mix of styles on tap, and beers will rotate frequently.

You can purchase beer in pints, 10-oz. half-pours, flights, growlers, and crowlers.

A variety of 3-taco entrees makes up the heart of the food menu. You will also find customizable nacho plates and quesadillas, chips, beans, and salsa.

They plan to have an open-mic, old-time jam session weekly and live bands periodically, starting soon. Don’t be surprised if you find Jeff on banjo and Jamie on fiddle. You will also find lots of logo merchandise for sale including pint glassware, stickers, patches, hats, and a variety of T-shirts.

It began with a bunch of plums

Jeff is a relatively new brewer, having only begun brewing about five years ago, but the quality of his beers show he is a quick study. Jeff’s first experiment in fermentation came around 2010, associated with a basket of plums he collected from a tree in his yard. He said his attempts to make a plum wine were not particularly successful, but it did pique his interest in the fermentation arts. In 2014, his wife Sarah bought him a homebrew kit and he soon became serious about brewing beer.

“The way he brews is super methodical and process oriented,” Jamie observed about Jeff’s skills.

Jeff runs the brewing with help from their restaurant manager Jim Way. Way was originally hired because he has restaurant experience, which neither Jamie or Jeff had. Now, Way also helps Jeff with the brewing too. “He just jumped into brewing and he loves it,” Jeff said.

Not everything easy getting started

“In the beginning, we said [to each other], ‘We do 10 to 15 large scale bronze public art works a year, we can make a brewery. It’s not going to be a problem.’ But it ended up being a lot harder than we thought.”

Much of that difficulty surrounded their decision to convert an old 1920s era structure into their brewery. They had their problems but persevered. Now several months into their beer making operations, they have ironed out a lot of the kinks in running a brewery and a restaurant.

Jeff acknowledged the assistance they received from other West Virginia brewers in getting the brewery started. He especially singled out Bill Riddenour of Chestnut Brew Works and Sam Fonda of Weathered Ground. Jeff said he also appreciated getting support from the other Fayetteville brewery located from just down the road. “The guys from Bridge Brew Works have said if we need anything to just let them know.”

Location

Their building is located about a mile and a half south of the center of Fayetteville along WV 16. The brewery, kitchen, and pub takes up about 1,600 sq. ft., with additional space provided by an enclosed outdoor patio. They have on-site parking for 25 to 30 vehicles.

Starting in May, they will be open Wednesdays through Sundays.

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The Freefolk Brewery
1690 Court St.
Fayetteville, WV

Website link which includes a current tap list with beer descriptions and a food menu.

“Creating a brewery is almost like creating a large living, functioning art work.” — Jaime Lester

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Video feature by Pikewood Creative on Jaime Lester’s life and art