Fan Favorite WV beers in 2021

Last week, we asked the West Virginia craft beer community what were their favorite beers from West Virgina brewers that they drank in 2021. Scores of WV craft beer lovers submitted their favorites. What we learned was very interesting. While a few breweries had a lot more of their beers voted for, no one or two beers received overwhelming support. Incredibly, the favorites were spread out over more than 120 different beers. With most beer fans submitting between 2 and 3 favorite beers—and a handful of folks naming five or more beers—it seems amazing that no one beer received more than six mentions.

Beer from 24 of the state’s 30 licensed breweries received votes as people’s favorite beers of the year. These results seem to suggest that the “best” beers are as different and diverse as are WV craft beer drinkers. They’re all over the map. There seems to be someone out there who will love just about any good beer a WV brewer chooses to make. It’s great to see that our breweries have such a wide fan base. That’s a good thing for our market.

Some results impressive, some unexpected

One would think that beers in wide distribution should show much better in a “favorite WV beers” survey like this, but that didn’t mean small breweries with little or no distribution were left out. On the contrary, some non-distributing breweries—led by Short Story Brewing in Rivesville with 16 different beers named as the year’s best and 19 total mentions—had more beers named than did several breweries with wide distribution in the state. Wow, Short Story’s performance is impressive. Interestingly, two non-distributing breweries in their first year of operation received best beer votes. Big Draft Brewing in White Sulphur Springs had three beers named, and Cacapon Mountain Brewing in Berkeley Springs had one.

Several other breweries with fairly limited self-distribution still received lots of support. The top ones were Stumptown Ales in Davis with 9 different favorite beers named and 11 overall mentions, The Peddler in Huntington with 7 and 8, and Bad Shepherd in Charleston with 6 and 8.

Among more widely distributed breweries that self-distribute, Weathered Ground Brewery in Cool Ridge amassed a big count with 19 different beers named as favorites and 32 mentions overall. Right on their heels was High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta with 13 different beers named and 24 overall mentions. Among breweries with statewide distribution through beer distributors, Big Timber Brewing in Elkins finished strong with 10 different beers named and 15 overall mentions. Right with them was Greenbrier Valley Brewing in Maxwelton with 9 different favorite beers named and 16 overall mentions. 

Heavy Handed leads among 2021 releases

Heavy Handed Imperial New England IPA from High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta received 6 mentions, the most mentions of any beer that was first brewed in 2021. This beer really was an instant classic and demonstrated that by winning Best of the Fest at the 2021 Rails & Ales Craft Beer Festival in Huntington and by racking up a thumping 4.26 score on Untappd with 172 ratings (as of 12/07/21).

Devil Anse IPA ties for highest tally

Tying for the most mentions with 6 was Devil Anse IPA. Introduced in 2016, Devil Anse is a beer that sells very well year after year. It’s by far the top selling beer at Greenbrier Valley Brewing and among the top one or two best selling beers from a WV brewery. That it tied for the most mentions shows that this old warrior still has its chops. (3.81 on Untappd with 13,217 ratings)

Still, it seems amazing that the most frequently mentioned beers got only 6 votes. No single beer captured the imagination of the WV craft beer drinker. While there were barrel-loads of votes spread across many IPAs (America’s most popular craft beer style), it was pleasing to also see plenty of votes for many other beer styles. Beer as diverse as Weathered Ground’s Bearer of Fruit and Big Timber’s ForestFest each received four mentions. It seems to support the proposition: Make a good beer and people will find it.

Cutting edge and traditional get support

While, collectively, newer beer styles like hazy IPAs & fruited kettle sours led the overall vote count from WV beer drinkers, older, traditional beer styles were not left out. Brewers should be encouraged that so many lagers and standard ales were included with solid support. Some of the more-traditional-styled beers receiving multiple mentions included Screech Owl’s Hoo’s Your Daddy IPA, Big Timber’s ForestFest and Porter, BrewKeeper’s Tmavy Dark Lager, Weathered Ground’s 16 Shots in Munich Pilsner and the Mild & Wonderful series, Mountain State’s Almost Heaven Amber and Cold Trail Ale, Bridge Brew Works’ Long Point Lager and Mountain Mama Pale Ale, and Greenbrier Valley’s Zona’s Revenge Wit and Ole Ran’l Pilsner.

Who Voted for their favorite WV beers

The folks submitting their favorite beers were all folks with Facebook accounts who commented on Brilliant Stream’s question , which was posted on several top beer-themed pages that are followed by West Virginia craft beer fans. We collected votes for two days and a couple of people were still commenting/voting after we cut off the count, so the actual total numbers could be a slight bit higher than those reported above. While there were lots of beer fans submitting votes from most regions of the state, one part of the state that seemed to under-represented was the Eastern Panhandle. It’s certainly not a scientific poll, but one with interesting results none the less. If you are a Facebook user, you can probably still find find some of the original comments on the Brilliant Stream page.

Craft beer fans active on Facebook and who follow WV beer pages and comment regularly about beer are a very important group. Their interest and activity identifies them influencers who tend to lead the craft beer discussion in their communities and lead others to new beers. For this reason, they are an important set of folks to brewers who want to sell more beer (and to beer media who want to write about it).

Use this link to view a list of the beers receiving multiple mentions.

A sampling of the Facebook comments

“My favorite has been Orange Brawndo from Peddler and all of Jay Fox’s sour creations this year. His sours and Appalachian Bandido are off the hook.”

“Good Point and Uphill Both Ways from Short Story, Heavy Handed and Birds and the Bees from High Ground, Cara Cara Chameleon and To the Place I Belong from Weathered Ground, Barrel Aged Cheeky Monkey and Clever Innuendo from Stumptown all stand out as head of the 2021 class for me.”

“I can’t get enough of There Gose the Neighborhood from Freefolk. Bridge Brew put out a damn fine Baltic Porter as well.”

“Screech Owl Brewing Hoo’s Your Daddy IPA”

“Bearer of Fruits from Weathered Ground and Stop Trashing Our Bathrooms from High Ground. I also love the sours from The Peddler, the Brawndos have all been delicious. You can’t wrong with just about anything from those 3.”

“High Ground got great IPAs. Just when you think they can’t make one better they blow you away with another one. Hard Edge and Wizard Dream were great brews I enjoyed in 2021.”

“The two beers in my area I enjoy greatly are Berkeley Brown from Berkeley Springs Brewery and Poor Tom an English Pub Ale from Cacapon Mountain Brewery.”

“Devils Anse without question!!!! Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company”

“Weathered Ground Brewery has been working hard to bring traditional styles into the mix with the craze for IPAS … like the Mild and Wonderful series, traditional German styles like the Kolsch, Pilsner, and alt beers. The Bearer of Fruits series are pretty hard to beat. My personal favorite right now is the Bourbon Barrel Aged Struggle Street though!”

“I feel like Short Story and High Ground killed it this year. Really separated themselves from everyone else in the state in my opinion. Short Story – Echo Echo Echo, Infinity +1, Repeat After Me, Room to Roam. High Ground – Hard Edge, Heavy Handed (excellent!!!), Mark It Zero”

“Big Timber Forestfest Oktoberfest, GVB Devil Anse, Mountain State Brewing Company Cold Trail Ale, Morgantown Brewing Company Holiday Blonde”

“I know it’s just an easy drinking lager, but I really have enjoyed The Peddler’s Appalachian Bandido as a summer beer. I don’t think you could ever go wrong with Bridge Brew Work’s Oatmeal Stout.”

“Mountain Momma Pale Ale and Long Point Lager from Bridge Brew Works are always great choices!”

“Anything from High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta, WV. HIGHLY recommend this brewery!! Friendly staff, delicious beer, and very innovative with what they’re putting out.”

“Top two beers I drank this year were High Ground Heavy Handed and Weathered Ground LeRue. Both were so well made. High Ground really dialed in their IPAs this year. LeRue was such a funky beer that hit everything I like about that style.”

“Tmavy and Octoberfest from Brewkeepers. Yo Querio Chocolate Cake from Big Timber, and just about anything from Weathered Ground.”

“I have enjoyed Big Timber’s Forest Fest Octoberfest as much as any beer I have had this year. It seems that no matter what beer Big Timber puts out there, it is well crafted and very tasty.”

“Stumptown Ales. Six legged frog and holy citra!”

“The “Listen to” series of sours from Morgantown Brewing Company are the best fruited sours in the state. Their line of beers with cheesecake is phenomenal. Short Story Brewing is killing it with IPAs such as Flash Fiction. High Ground Brewing has an excellent IPA titled Weapons Free. It was by far one of the best I had this year. Overall, WV is producing some high quality beers!”

“16 Shots in Munich from Weathered Ground continues to be the best beer made in this state.”

“Greenbrier Valley – Ole Ran’l Pilsner and Zona’s Revenge Witbier. Big Draft Brewing – Bo Red Lager. Big Timber – Porter”

“16 Shots is one of the best of its style in the whole country, period. Ymir the Creator from High Ground makes my list because I hadn’t had anything like it before AND it was fantastic.”

“Shot Caller from Bad Shepherd. Also, Zona’s Revenge from Greenbrier Valley.”