Cacapon Mountain Brewing moving along

UPDATE: Cacapon Mountain Brewing officially opened in November 2020.

An exciting new brewery project is rapidly taking shape in the Eastern Panhandle. Cacapon Mountain Brewing hopes to be doing business from Berkeley Springs, WV by the end of the year.

Led by owner Shane Mills, the brewery is the second to take shape in this Morgan County community. It will feature a spacious taproom with pints, flights, growlers, and bottles. A brewery kitchen will offer a light-fare menu.

Mills says he chose Berkeley Springs not only because it is his home town, but also because of the town’s heavy tourist traffic from Baltimore, DC, and other parts of the Northeast. “It has been my goal since brewing school to open up in West Virginia, as it was and still is underserved, especially considering how much beer was brewed in the state before Prohibition.”

Real solid experience

Mills has a solid background in craft brewing, beginning in 2009 by completing the brewing course at the American Brewers Guild and an internship at Russian River Brewing. One job that jumps out is his having been a brewer with Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland from 2010 to 2013. While there, he helped create some of their best selling brands, such as The Truth Imperial IPA and Easy IPA.

He also had stints as a cellarperson at Marin Brewing and as a brewer at Kern River Brewing, both in California. More recently, Mills was a lead brewer at the big-dollar Bluejacket brewery restaurant in D.C. and then served as a quality control consultant to Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD, before he began focusing his efforts on organizing the new brewery.

Stylistically, expect the Cacapon Mountain to offer hoppy ales, naturally carbonated lagers, barrel-fermented Belgian-style ales, and spirit barrel strong ales.

“My brewing philosophy is dry, full flavored beers, crisp enough to incite another sip instead of palate fatigue,” says Mills. “My specialty is hoppy beers, and favorite style to brew is Wet Hop IPA. But I also love lagers, funky aged sours, and the malt bombs of Britain.”

Cacapon Mountain will start-up with a 7-barrel brewhouse and 92 barrels of fermentation space. It will initially package beer in kegs and bottles. Beyond selling through the taproom, the brewery also plans to self-distribute its products.

Mills says his production plans are scaled to fit the limited staff of his girlfriend and him. He will handle the production and she will take charge of customer service. “This will necessarily keep production small to focus on taproom sales,” he says, “and utilize time and the excess space in our building to produce longer turnaround time beers in smaller quantities as opposed to focus on volume sales in a flooded retail environment.”

A great location

The brewery property sits one block off the town’s main drag (N. Washington Street/U.S. 522), just down from the old train depot. For access from out of town, the site is only 6 miles off I-70.

Mills is well along with his building preparation. He is refurbishing a large, old factory building, which will house both the brewery and taproom. It has been a big job, with all new concrete floors, roof repairs, new utilities, over 100 new window panes, etc. It should be quite an interesting space when it opens.

The brewery already has obtained its federal brewing permit and has applied for its state resident brewer license.

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Cacapon Mountain Brewing
42 Williams St.
Berkeley Springs, WV