Fall Foliage and Fall Beer Drinking

Treat yourself to pints of super-fresh local beer at the same time you fill your eyes with mountains of beautiful fall colors. Yes, you can do that in West Virginia right now. Take advantage of our best weather season. Spend the midday and afternoon seeing the sights, then make a late afternoon-early evening stop relishing fall flavors in a beer garden. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Enjoy the rich amber colors of Märzen lagers, the bright golden color of IPAs, the deep browns of porters and stouts. Use the state’s official Fall Foliage Map to help you find the best sights and then visit one of the breweries listed below for each period.

Use this guide by region to some great autumn activity. Use BrilliantStream’s WV Brewery Locator Map for more detail on each brewery and its exact location.

Early October

Drive around the big Allegheny mountains counties of Randolph, Preston and Tucker. Add it a visit to Snowshoe too.

Breweries Options

• Big Timber in Elkins
• Screech Owl Brewing in Cuzzart
• High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta
• Big Sandy Brewing in Bruceton Mills
• Mountain State Brewing in Thomas
• Stumptown Ales in Davis
• Old Spruce Brewing in Snowshoe Mountain

Mid-October

Best leaf-piping takes place in a big stripe down the middle of the state beginning in Morgantown and running down I-79 to Braxton ,County, then US 19 to Raleigh County (Beckley), then on south through Greenbrier County or Monroe County to the Virginia line. Parts of the Ohio Valley should also shine during mid-month including the Parkersburg area. Also mid-month you’ll find good color in the Potomac Highlands region of Mineral, Hardy, and Hampshire counties.

Brewery Options

• Chestnut Brew Works, Morgantown
• Morgantown Brewing, Morgantown
• Short Story Brewing, Rivesville
• Rambling Root, Fairmont
• North End Tavern Brewing, Parkersburg
• Parkersburg Brewing, Parkersburg
• Bridge Brew Works, Fayetteville
• The Freefolk Brewery, Fayetteville
• Dobra Zupas, Beckley
• Weathered Ground Brewery, Cool Ridge
• Greenbrier Valley Brewing, Maxwelton
• Big Draft Brewing, White Sulphur Springs

Late October

Toward the end of October and even extending into November you can expect the best leaf color in the southwestern section of the state including the Charleston to Huntington corridor and the southern coalfields. Late month should also be prime time in the Northern Panhandle (Wheeling) and Eastern Panhandle (Martinsburg) regions.

Brewery Options

• The Peddler, Huntington
• Bad Shepherd Beer Company, Charleston
• Sophisticated Hound Brewing, Princeton
• Brew Keepers, Wheeling
• Wheeling Brewing, Wheeling
• Berkeley Springs Brewing, Berkeley Springs
• Cacapon Mountain Brewing, Berkeley Springs
• Abolitionist Brew Works, Charles Town
• Bavarian Brothers Brewing, Shepherdstown
• Rippon Brewing, Rippon