Bruceton breweries offer fun & local color

Road Trip for Beer special feature by Andrea Fleming

With autumn quickly approaching you may find yourself Googling “brewery tours” or “fall foliage and craft beer”. Whatever your plans entail, while the weather is still nice, I highly suggest heading to Preston County to visit what I like to call Bruceton’s finest breweries. 

A hop, skip and a jump off the I-68 Bruceton Mills WV exit, both Screech Owl Brewing and Big Sandy Brewing are sure to deliver a fun experience, family-friendly atmosphere, and beautiful scenery.

Enjoying life among farm and forest scenery

Screech Owl Brewing has been around for six years and is Preston County’s oldest brewery. Upon arrival, many side-by-sides graced the parking lot as well as peacocks, guinea fowl and chickens, which was super cool. I was given a VIP tour of the brewery and grounds, which has grown tremendously since 2015 and now features huge outdoor seating areas and lovely views of the family farm and forests.

After chatting with owners Roger and Crista Johnson, their son Jameson, and his wife Kristen, I immediately felt a warm sense of both family and community. Jameson, who serves as the brewery’s general manager, said it best when he summed up Screech Owl’s mantra, “Rather than be influenced by the world, we would rather influence the world with our values.” He added that someone from each continent minus Antarctica, has visited the brewery.

As local as local gets

Oh, and the beer… the beer is fantastic. I enjoyed a Mama’s Mango Ale. It was humid outside, so a light, fruity beer hit the spot. At 6.2%, it wasn’t too heavy and finished with subtle hints of mango. My hubs tried Hoo’s Your Daddy IPA, which is their best canned beer seller, and he sang its praises. Screech Owl keeps its taps full of other attractive offerings too, such as the popular Class III Whitewater IPA, as well as several smooth, less hoppy beers like Bold Blonde Ale, Muddy Creek Ale, and Buckwheat Honey Porter. Many Screech Owl beers are available in 4-packs of 16 oz. cans to-go.

All of Screech Owl’s employees reside in Preston County and live within 10 or 15 miles of the brewery, hence the family feel you get when you walk through the door. Jameson takes pride in Screech Owl’s all-female brewing team made up of Kristen, and her assistants, Harley and Emma. This dynamic trio keep things squeaky clean and ensure you’re delivered a fresh, tasty brew every time. Moving over to the restaurant side, the food was amazing, and most menu items are made fresh from scratch.

And to top off the strong sense of community and compassion, Jameson explained that leftover food goes to the local food pantry and helps feed 351 kids per week. The pandemic has made us more aware of food insecurity right here in the mountain state and the fine folks of Screech Owl Brewing do their philanthropic part each week to help kids receive food.

With our bellies full (I had a huge burger and slaw) and our craft pallets stimulated by the Screech Owl fare, we headed a few miles down the road into historic downtown Bruceton Mills to find Big Sandy Brewing.

Next stop Big Sandy Brewing

Big Sandy Brewing is a brand new brewery, co-owned by Laura Dulaney and Josh Palencar. They use a small nano-sized brewing system to explore a range of popular craft beer styles. It opened in July of this year and had an official Chamber of Commerce grand-opening just a couple of weeks ago. The brewery sits close to the Bruceton Dam on Big Sandy Creek, and they use “Serving Dam Good Beer” as their motto. 

The atmosphere in the taproom was fun and eclectic. Josh Palencar, who also handles the brewing, was entertaining and friendly tending the bar. We sampled each beer beginning with the Bubbly Blonde, which offered a light, airy feel with notes of floral and citrus. Next on deck was the Tegrety Session IPA (you’ll get it if you watch South Park), an approachable, calm IPA with a smooth, mild apricot finish. At 5.3%, this IPA pleases without an overly-aggressive hoppiness. Last, the Strawberry Wheat Ale is sure to be a summer favorite. Shandy-like in nature, it would make an excellent grass-mowing beer. Unfortunately, when we visited they were sold out of Big Sandy Brown Ale, their best selling beer.

Josh also brews craft non-alcoholic birch beer and lemonade for the youngsters. He mixed his Pinky Promise Honest lemonade with the Strawberry Wheat Ale and coined it Big Sandy Shandy. It was light and delicious. 

Getting there

To visit these breweries, I recommend taking Exit 23 off I-68 and make your way to these two gems while it’s still warm enough to enjoy the road trip. Be ready for cool vibes, good times, and cold brews at each place. 

LINKS

Screech Owl Brewing website
Screech Owl Brewing map, 2323 Ralph Livengood, Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

Big Sandy Brewing Facebook page
Big Sandy Brewing map, 207 Morgantown St. Suite 2 Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

WV Beer Roads podcast with Jameson Johnson of Screech Owl Brewing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea Salina Fleming is a craft beer enthusiast who resides in Marion County, WV. In addition to following the local brewing scene, she works as a business operations manager for an information technology firm. She is an occasional contributor to Brilliant Stream.

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