GVBC Great Claw stout honors extinct sloth

On December 14, 2019, Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company (GVBC) will release their limited edition Great Claw Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout at the brewery in Maxwelton. Only 200 cases of 12-oz. cans were produced (24-can cases).

Great Claw is the brewery’s trade name for the beer honoring an extinct 2,000 pound, North American giant sloth, officially known as the Megalonyx. The animal had a large, three-pronged claw that distinguished it. In 1796, this sloth’s fossilized remains were first discovered in Haynes Cave, near Second Creek in Monroe County. In 2008, the animal was designated as West Virginia’s State Fossil.

The brewery says that it is “honoring this prehistoric giant sloth again with a suitably heavy imperial stout made to last through winter, till the season is ripe again for plucking berries.” Great Claw Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout seems much in the vein of those rich-tasting American-style barrel-aged imperial stouts that you probably know and love. Here are its brewing notes:

Great Claw Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

• Malts: American 2-row, German Vienna, British Roast, British Chocolate, and British crystal
• Hops: Columbus
• IBU: 50
• Flavor: Deep roasted character with a full body. Subtle notes of caramel and chocolate in flavor.  Hints of vanilla and oak in the aroma.
• Color:  Black
• Barrel Aging: Six months in Contradiction Bourbon barrels from Smooth Ambler Spirits
• ABV: 10%

GVBC Director of Brewing, Brian Reymiller, says his inspiration for the beer came from winter. “We are brewing this beer for the cold winter months,” he told us, “using various specialty malts to achieve deep, rich flavors that will blend well with the Smooth Ambler Contradiction whiskey barrels. Yet not utilizing too much specialty malt so that we can still get the stout to finish dry. We put a lot of thought into selecting our specialty malts, to avoid a cloyingly sweet beer.”

For hopping the beer, Reymiller says he employed a delayed boiling addition in order to get good utilization and avoid harsh bitterness. “We also used some late additions to keep some hop flavor.”

Reymiller explained that this beer differs from GVBC’s past imperial stouts. “The imperial stouts before were more of the Russian-style imperial stouts. This one is more along the lines of the American-style imperial stout.”

Great Claw Stout release event

On Saturday, Dec. 14, the beer’s release will be highlighted by a social gathering at the brewery in Maxwelton. The event features food from Blackwell’s, a local catering operation, and music by The Kind Thieves band (6 pm – 9 pm). All 200 cases of 12 oz. Great Claw cans will be put-on sale at the brewery. Other GVBC beers will also be available.

The beer will be offered for $20 per six-pack. Single cans will be available in the brewery taproom for on-premise consumption at $6 a can.

GVBC also packaged seven kegs of the beer, two of which will be available on draft on Dec. 14. The other five kegs will be held and cellared, says Alex Durand, GVBC’s assistant director of operations and sales manager.

“In 2020 and each subsequent year following we will tap one of the cellared kegs,” Durand explained. “This way fans can try the previous year’s Great Claw and compare it with the most current. We plan on making this an annual event. So five years from now we will have 5-years worth of Great Claw on draft.” 

(Editor’s Comment — Hmmm. December, 2024. Six consequetive years of Great Claw Imperial Stout side by side. Note to self: Get a hotel reservation near brewery.)

Small-batch releases strengthen craft industry

The Great Claw release is special in that it is the first time GVBC has brewed a small-batch canned product for release at the brewery. This sales method has become pretty popular at small breweries around the country. Not only does a small-batch brewery release increase beer-fan interest and drive social media publicity, but it also allows a brewery to quickly recoup its investment in the beer. The goal is to sell it quickly at full retail price at the brewery. Direct-to-consumer sales at the brewery produces a higher profit margin than a brewery would get through its normal distribution sales. It can provide a nice financial shot in the arm.

Small-batch brewery releases help boost interest in a brewery’s products, which in turn, helps boost interest in beers they put into distribution. It’s a business strategy that works great for many other small breweries and is an important feature to maintaining a healthy small brewing industry.

GVBC scores with distinctive can graphics

Greenbrier Valley Brewing is known for its very distinctive and attractive can label designs featuring WV myths, monsters, and legends. Great Claw is no exception. Graphic designer Kristen Rehak did a great job with the Great Claw can label art. GVBC has been using her services for most of this year, but this is her first can design. Alex Durand stresses that good label designs are critical to the brewery. “I think the art of our beer is very important to our brand,” he says.

Rehak says she took here inspiration for the label from past Greenbrier Valley cans, yet knew she had to go with a different color pallet than had previously been used in other can label artwork. She wanted to make sure “to showcase the Megalonyx’s big ol’ claws, since that’s where the name of the beer took its inspiration. I really wanted the Great Claw artwork to reflect the best side of GVBC and to be a good representation of their original branding.”

She says she enjoys the challenge of doing graphic art for Greenbrier Valley Brewing, which has such a distinctive, well-known graphic design style developed over the past several years.

“Of course, there were some parameters I had to follow, such as design/illustration style and the color pallet limitations, but that wasn’t going to rain on my parade—if anything it was an extra challenge for me as an artist.” She says she knows that “maintaining that look is key to maintaining the brand identity of a company like GVBC. It’s like the visual keystone that holds everything in place. I spent a lot of hours making sure my artwork for Great Claw matched the original art style as much as possible.”  

GVBC adding new Lewisburg taproom

In other GVBC news, the brewery expects to open a taproom in downtown Lewisburg later this month (as soon as WVABCA permits are issued). This will make enjoying GVBC beer much easier for the thousands of tourists who flock to Lewisburg, but who rarely get up the road five and a half miles to the actual brewery facility in Maxwelton.

Called the Craft House, the place will feature over 20 taps of GVBC and other West Virginia brewery beers. No brewing will take place on the site. According to a report on WVNS TV news, the Craft House will be located behind the City National Bank building in Lewisburg. Watch GVBC social media for the grand opening announcement.

If you have visited a Mountain State Brewing Company taproom in Morgantown or Bridgeport recently, you have seen a similar offering of MSBC beer along with other WV brewery beers. It seems like a great move for GVBC who will benefit from the increased sales and also help bring more exposure to other WV breweries. It’s a win-win.

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Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company
862 Industrial Park Rd.
Maxwelton, WV 24957
Phone: 304-520-4669