Breweries planning to open in 2018
For 2018, we are following six projects that have a chance of opening this year. West Virginia saw four new breweries open in 2017.
Walton Mountain Brewing Company
OPEN – This is Roane County’s first brewery. Already operating as a popular bar and grill, the owners added a small brewery to their existing business. Proprietor Tim Morgan reports that the they will only sell their beer at the brewpub, with no distribution initially. Initially made two beers for sale.
Status Update: State brewery license issued in spring 2018. Beer sales underway.
7177 Charleston Rd.
Walton, WV 25286
Brewery Facebook Page
The Rambling Root
OPEN – The owners have added a small brewery to the existing Rambling Root restaurant and bar in downtown Fairmont.
The brewery has a 2-barrel brewhouse and 4 barrels of stainless fermentation tank space, plus oak barrels and carboys. They will be keg-only, primarily supplying their own taproom, but will occasionally self-distribute a small amount to other accounts. D.J. Cassel will handle brewery operations.
Their first two beers will be “Regular Beer” cream ale, dedicated to their regular customers, and “Spanky” IPA, dedicated to George Spanky Roberts.
The Rambling Root kitchen dishes out a melting pot of Southern, Appalachian, German foods and Fairmont favorites. The bar has 21 taps and, until their brewery operation opens, they serve a selection of brews from WV and other states.
Status Update: State resident brewer license issued August 30 and beer is now for sale in the pub.
101 Fairmont Avenue
Fairmont, WV
Project Facebook page
Freefolk Brewery
OPEN – While the taproom will not open until sometime in early 2019, Freefolk has begun begin brewing and will begin self-distributing its beer to area retailers..
Freefolk Brewery becomes the second brewery in Fayetteville. Co-owned by Jamie Lester and Jeff Edwards, it will produce beer on a 3.5-barrel brewhouse and sell it all through their taproom along highway WV 16 just about a mile south of downtown Fayetteville.
Inside their taproom, expect some nice murals and other work by Jamie Lester, who is the artist that designed the West Virginia state quarter. Jeff Edwards will lead the brewing and the banjo playing.
Status Update: STATE LICENSE ISSUED DEC. 18, 2018 – Brewing is underway. Taproom to open in 1st quarter 2019.
1690 S. Court Street
Fayetteville, WV 25840
Brewery website
Old Spruce Brewing
This new brewery is hoping to open in December 2018 so it can serve the skiers at Snowshoe Mountain. The project is led by Lawrence Walkup who also operates the Old Spruce Tavern and Draft House at Snowshoe Mountain Resort.
Expect one of the house beers in the brewery to be a Citra IPA, along with a range of other popular styles. The brewery will also supply beer to Old Spruce Draft House and Old Spruce Cafe & Tavern, once a brewery license is secured.
Status Update: November – Brewery construction is mostly complete and most equipment is installed. Opening delayed until Spring 2019.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort
10 Snowshoe Drive
Snowshoe, WV
Old Spruce Tavern Website
Brewery Facebook Page
Bavarian Brothers Brewing
Bavarian Brothers Brewing at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown will be a welcomed addition to this beautiful property situated overlooking the Potomac River. The brewpub addition will feature seasonal beers and food by Executive Chef Alyson Zimmerman.
The wooden A-frame brewpub building sits where the original garden patio used to be and is already open as a regular bar. An outdoor beer garden will be located just outside the pub, where they have build the new outdoor garden patio. The stainless steel brewing tanks and equipment will be visible in the pub with a modern industrial design that the Inn folks say will be stunning.
While the Inn’s heritage comes from the Bavarian region of Germany, the beer will be a blend of cultures. They say want it to reflect their European roots and also embrace their West Virginia location. Initial plans are for an IPA, English Stout, German-style Pils, Hefeweizen, a fruited Summer Sour, and an English-style Porter. Other seasonal brews are expected.
Status Update: November 2018 — Expected opening date of brewery is now late 2018 or slipping into 2019. Something seems to have delayed the brewery license.
164 Shepherd Grade
Shepherdstown, WV
Bavarian Inn website
High Ground Brewing Company
High Ground Brewing is in development in Terra Alta, WV. It is situated in eastern Preston County midway between Kingwood and Oakland, Maryland.
Dallas J. Wolfe is High Ground’s founder, owner and brewer. He says he’s been a craft beer fanatic for at least five years, but it was a few years back, when he took up homebrewing that he really caught the bug. He’s an Army veteran currently serving in the WV National Guard.
The brewery will locate in an existing 2,400 square foot warehouse that Wolfe owns and is converting into the brewery. About 800 sq. ft. of that space will be dedicated to his taproom. Inside his brewery building, Wolfe will install a 10-barrel brewhouse, three 10-barrel fermenters and one 20-barrel fermentor. He will start out kegging his beer, but hopes to add a small-batch canning system later.
When it opens, High Ground Brewery will have a full taproom with pints, flights, growlers, and kegs for sale. He also plans to self-distribute some beer around the north central section of the state.
Status Update: November 2018 – Construction at the brewery site is complete. Test batches should begin soon. Opening delayed until early 2019.
High Ground Brewing
102 Railroad St.
Terra Alta, WV
Brewery Facebook page
Cheat Canyon Brewing Company
THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN CANCELED
Bob Milvet spent all of last year working on business and financing plans for his Morgantown-based brewery project, and in late 2017, things began moving ahead. While the project is moving a bit more slowly than they originally anticipated, 2018 should be the year this brewery gets built.
Cheat Canyon will be a large brewery for West Virginia, with a 30 barrel brewhouse and 180 barrels of fermentation space at opening. Their primary focus is on water quality, clean brewery operations, and freshest ingredients to ensure a high quality product. Estimated total invest will be in the range of $4 million.
The architectural drawings for the building’s exterior show a modern structure that looks fantastic. The brewery will include a large restaurant taproom area with food service. At opening, they expect to employ around 8 full-time and 20 part-time staff.
Head brewer Tommy Nichelson says he will have an extensive beer line-up including a Russian Imperial Stout, Milk Stout, Black IPA / Cascadian Dark, Farmhouse Ale, Citra IPA, Pale Ale, Amber Ale, NE IPA, Double IPA, plus seasonals and one-offs. They plan to put maybe four or five of these beers into distribution. The brewery will sign with a distributor to sell its beer outside the brewery. Initially, beer will only be distributed in kegs.
Status Update: June 21 – Brewery project cancelled. It will not be built in Morgantown.
Lawless Road (in the new Westridge development)
Morgantown, WV
Brewery Twitter: @CheatCanyonBrew
Brewery Facebook Page