2021 Breweries in Development

Some good news lies ahead for West Virginia brewery fans in 2021. We expect to see two more breweries open in the first half of this year. One in White Sulphur Springs and one in Keyser. And one more operation seems pretty certain to turn downtown Clendenin into a craft beer destination before this year ends.

Big Draft Brewing plans spring opening

UPDATE: ARTICLE ON THEIR OPENING LINK

Set to kick off this spring is Big Draft Brewing on Main Street in White Sulphur Springs. This project, which has been in the works for a couple of years, is rapidly approaching its opening.

J.W. Groseclose will be the head brewer, and he is busy getting things put together for business owner David Bostic. The brewery is located next door to Road Hog’s Barbeque in the heart of downtown. Groseclose reports that they have purchased a 10 barrel Specific Mechanical steam-fired, two-vessel brewing system. They will pair that with two 20 bbl fermentors, three 10 bbl fermentors, and 10 and 20 bbl brights.

Some of you may remember Groseclose from his time brewing at Greenbrier Valley Brewing or from an earlier stint at a brewery in Tazewell, Virginia. More recently, he has been managing a non-brewing-related start-up business in Princeton for his father, while putting in many hours of his spare time building out the brewery. He is anxious to get the new brewery equipment fired up, hopefully by sometime in March, with an opening targeted for later in the spring.

Groseclose says to expect a selection of popular hazy IPAs, fruited kettle sours and stouts, but he is also passionate about providing a nice variety of traditional Old World beer styles from Germany and Belgium. Additionally, he will always have a light-styled gateway brew or two, with at least one of them in cans to appeal to those seeking a great “golf course” beer — a very smart move with the neighboring Greenbrier resort offering four world-class golf courses.

Initially, the brewery will primarily keg its beer for its pub and will also do some self-distribution across the region. As things get underway, they plan to contract with a mobile canner to package several of their more popular brands in cans. These will also be put into distro. Groseclose plans to bottle some specialty products—likely higher-ABV small-batch beers—in bottles for sale at the taproom.

Steakhouse themed restaurant included

Big Draft Brewing will operate a spacious taproom restaurant with 16 draft taps planned. The taproom’s kitchen will prepare the food needed for its expected steakhouse themed restaurant. The taproom will cover around 3,000 sq. ft. and be adjacent to a larger event space that can be rented for a variety of activities.

North Branch Brewpub targets summer 2021 opening

The COVID year has slowed down pretty much all brewery development, but the work on the North Branch Brewpub in Keyser is still chugging along. They hope to open this coming summer. Business owner and entrepreneur Terry Stephens is adding a small in-house brewery to his existing North Branch Craft Pub in downtown Keyser. Check out the project description here from an earlier article. 2021 could turn out to be a great year for beer in the North Branch of the Potomac region.

Clendenin Brewing

This is a project being developed by Matt and Nikki Holbert, who are best known as owners of Bricks & Barrels restaurant in Charleston. They hope to put in a small brewery on the first floor of the former Chase Bank building they own in Clendenin. They have already put in an airbnb operation on the second floor. The building, with its impressive facade, was constructed in 1923 and sits along the Elk River in the Historic District of the city. Once the brewery is in operation, they would hope to have enough beer to self distribute a bit to the Charleston market.

A new business spark has lit up in Clendenin recently with the development of kayaking on the Elk and the new Elk River Rail Trail both bringing people to the area. The Holberts have done an outstanding job selling West Virgina craft beer at Bricks and Barrels and their Axes & Ales restaurant/bar in Charleston. No doubt they will put together a tasty and fun operation in Clendinin that will help propel the area to even greater things.

As additional projects develop, we will report on them here.