Big Draft Brewing opens incredible facility

July 28, 2021

When Big Draft Brewing opened for business recently in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia’s other breweries immediately had some very stiff competition as far as who has the most magnificent brewery complex. Take a look around, and you may agree that this place blows away every other downtown/urban brewery development in the state.

Here’s what you’ll find: three restaurants, a one-acre beer garden with stage, an indoor concert/event center, open-air deck serving area overlooking the beer garden, an inter-building green space with big wall murals, a large covered back porch serving area with mountain views, a 10-barrel production brewery, and a gorgeous taproom with 16 taps. It’s a crazy good development that anyone would love to have in their town.

Heck, it’s really not going out on a limb to call this a new standard setter. It will be hard to top, but here’s hoping others try. This development will totally transform the way folks see downtown White Sulphur Springs—no doubt about it.

It takes a team

*^{The visionary team with a huge accomplishment. L to R are Clay Elkins, Dave Bostic, and J.W. Groseclose}*

The team who put together this brewing, dining, and entertainment complex consists of Dave Bostic, Clay Elkins and J.W. Groseclose. A few years ago, Dave purchased a block of old buildings on Main Street in White Sulphur. Dave, who has a construction company, handled the demolition, rehabbing, and new construction. Clay brought with him the restaurant operation savvy. J.W. completed the circle of talents by bringing the brewery operation skills.

It took a team of visionary folks who looked at a stagnant section of downtown and saw a golden opportunity. And they were not afraid to put their money, time, and talents into it.

The first piece to open, back in 2019, was Road Hog’s BBQ. It quickly became known as one the best barbecue restaurants in the state. Then COVID came along and slowed development of the main brewery and entertainment complex, but the guys did not stop. Over the next year and a half, work continued on the rehab and new construction. Then earlier this year, the street-front coffee shop (The Local Coffee & Cafe) opened and serves from breakfast through supper. Finally, the Cross Creek on Main event space and Big Draft Brewing taproom and restaurant opened in late July. Now all the pieces are pretty much complete. Final touches are still being put on the outdoor spaces, but they should be mostly finished by summer’s end.

*^{The 7,000 sq. ft. Cross Creek on Main event & concert venue is beautiful.}*

So as you can see, there are several separate businesses that make up the complex, with Big Draft Brewing being main one. Cross Creek on Main plans to produce a couple of regional-act music concerts each month. The 7,000 sq. ft. space will also be available for private event rental for things such as banquets and seminars, etc. The Big Draft brewpub restaurant should also be a nice draw. Its menu is best described as gastropub. The creative entrees, appetizers, and salads were all created by the brewpub’s chef and kitchen workers.

There’s always a story about beer

*^{J.W. Groseclose (at right) and Dave Barron giving a tour of the brewery facility.}*

The production brewery section of the complex is an interesting story. After Groseclose became a partner in the development, he brought in Dave Barron to work with him. The two men had met a couple years back when they both worked at Greenbrier Valley Brewing. Building out the new brewery was definitely a hands-on project for them. What they demonstrated is that a significant new brewery can be put together primarily with used equipment from a variety of sources. They scoured the nation for good used equipment and ended up sourcing pieces from other breweries in California, New Hampshire, Georgia, and Virginia. Putting that together with a few pieces of new equipment, they got Big Draft Brewing operational and licensed.

*^{All the primary equipment was sourced used from other breweries, including this 10-barrel Specific Mechanical brewing system that J.W. named Francine.}*

Big Draft Brewing Audio Podcast

Hear J.W. and Dave tell the entire story of their brewery operations on this 30-minute West Virginia Beer Roads podcast.

Episode 036 of West Virginia Beer Roads • Big Draft Brewing

*The beer makers: Groseclose, brewmaster, and Barron, head brewer*

The beer menu will be built from classic and newer beer styles. If their first three beers put on tap are any indicator, the beer will be solid. Over the next number of weeks, the house-made beer menu will expand to eventually fill the 16 brewpub taps. Once they get their own taproom operation fully filled, we can expect to see Big Draft beers in a handful of other accounts in their area.

The guys’ business plan for the brewery is to sell the vast bulk of the beer they brew right in their own facilities. They are not emphasizing distribution. Down the road (by early 2022), they hope to add a canning line, but plan to mostly hold those cans for in-house sales. It is a smart plan: Make the place so dynamic a destination that you can sell all the beer you make with maximum profit right from your own taps. From what we’ve seen of this place, they will definitely attract a crowd.