Celebration for Charleston Nano this weekend

Charleston Nano Brewery celebrates its 1st Anniversary this weekend (Aug. 25-27) at the brewery in Charleston’s Elk City district. Visitors will enjoy special foods, live music, and lots of unique beers.

There’s nothing like a year of business experience under your belt when you’re starting up your first craft brewery. Even with good advance planning, small brewery owners usually learn so much more about their customers’ tastes and preferences only after opening the brewery doors. That first year in business helps set a direction for their brewing programs that can easily last many years.

Charleston Nano is a good case in point.

“We’re a small nano brewery,” says Kenny Graley, Nano’s brewer and co-owner, describing his business model. What he means by that is he brews in small, one-barrel (31-gallon) batches. He originally thought he’d probably keep six or seven beers on tap, but this plan changed pretty dramatically after learning more about his customers’ actual preferences. They wanted more variety.

“We didn’t plan on having as many beers on tap as we have, but we have about 17 different ones.” he explains. “Just trying new beers out, stuff that you won’t really find anywhere else.”

Experimental plus classic styles

Having a wide variety of ever changing small-batch brews has proved a solid model for Kenny and his wife, Jennifer, who is his business partner and manages the front of the house.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Jennifer says of working behind the bar. “I enjoy getting to meet all of our customers.”

Having 17 or so different beers on tap doesn’t phase her. She knows her customers’ preferences, and then accordingly, which beers to suggest.

“I’m pretty good at remembering names and remembering what they drink,” she says. “Once you get to know them, you know what kind of beer they like. So when they come through the door you can say, ‘There’s the Pilsner guy.'”

Small but mighty

Charleston Nano seats about 25 people inside and 25 more in their outdoor beer garden. If you don’t mind standing, there’s plenty of space for a bunch more craft beer lovers to socialize.

Beer variety has been key

Because a nano-brewery brews in such small batches, they tend to be much more experimental than larger craft breweries. Charleston Nano is no exception.

Having a wide beer variety—and being able to go deep into certain beer styles—has been a strength.

Every visit to Charleston Nano is an adventure. You never know what new beer flavors/styles will be on the tap list. This summer, it’s been great fun for patrons deep diving into the different fruited sours. Some recent hits have been the Raspberry Lime, Strawberry, and the West Virginia Peach flavors. Since they’re produced in small batches, expect the menu to regularly change.

Unique in West Virginia, the brewery offers two, quite different lines of quick sours—one made with Philly Sour yeast, the other with a newer Sourvisiae yeast. These yeasts are trademarked and tend to be considerably more expensive than typical brewers yeasts.

While Philly Sours are smooth and lightly tart, the Sourvisiae ones are much more in your face. It’s fun to taste them side-by-side. (To help you do this, ask Jennifer to pour you a flight, or even just a small taste to see which your palate prefers.) Both types are typically served blended with different fruit purées.

Kenny calls his Sourvisiae beers pH 3.0s, alluding to the sourness of the base beer, which is similar to sucking on a lemon. (Some fans like to call the beer Warheads). Don’t worry though, once he adds the fruit purée, the fruity sweetness balances out the beer’s sourness and makes it quite delicious. Give it a try.

Not into sours, then try these…

Beyond the broad representation of fruited/flavored sour beers, Charleston Nano offers its popular core 1788 Czech-style Pilsner (often both in a plain and a coffee-flavored version), the Effen Spicy Red Ale (made with very hot peppers), and the Country Roads Belgian Dubbel-style brews (fruited and plain versions).

You’ll also often find Moon Unit IPA (a standard American IPA), Rye 2 Die IPA, and Scout Espresso Stout. For the non-beer drinker, don’t overlook their excellent non-alcoholic, house-made Root Beer.

Special Anniversary beer, food & music

Kenny expects to have ready for anniversary weekend some additional, brand new beers—ones he hasn’t yet named. They include a 10% Double IPA, two cask ales (a barrel-aged Pilsner for one), new fruit flavors of the sours, and possibly more.

The Graleys are pulling out all the stops for anniversary weekend with special food and live music. Friday night will be food from JoJo’s Taco trailer and music by Minor Swing. Saturday features the Phat Llama food trailer and music by Khegen McLane. On Sunday you’ll find tapping of the barrel-aged Pilsner and more limited-edition brews.

Don’t miss the merch area

Hope to see everyone there.

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Charleston Nano Podcast

To hear more about Charleston Nano-Brewery’s first year, check out Episode 72 of the West Virginia Beer Roads podcast, which featured Jennifer & Kenny along with hosts Erin & Charles.

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Charleston Nano Brewery
320 Washington Street West
Charleston, WV

Brewery Facebook Page Link

Anniversary Hours

Friday: 5:00 – 9:00 PM
Saturday: 2:00 – 10:00 PM
Sunday: 1:00 Noon – 5:00 PM