I spend a lot of time in taprooms – way more than most folks do. With that being understood, I also spend nearly all of that time in Cincinnati taprooms – I don’t get to venture out of my comfort zone here in Cincinnati very often. When I do get that chance — I’m always ready to jump on it.

Huge shoutout to a good friend of the blog, the podcast, to me, Matt Demaris for extending an invite to me, Marco Penilla from Truth Beer and Podsequences, along with Matt’s fellow Brews Traveller Outcast Podcast member “Quick Trip” Mark Miller. His idea? Let’s head down to West Virginia, hang out in a cabin, and hit up as many West Virginia breweries as we can manage over a weekend.

How do you say ‘no’ to that?

The Trip Begins – Day 1

The drive down into West Virginia isn’t horribly long, it is easily knocked out in one day. To me, though, a road trip is always about the journey and that means you can’t rush the drive to where you’re going either. We knew we weren’t going to be meeting ‘Quick Trip’ until much later that night, so we didn’t rush. We made a couple of stops for lunch that would make sure we took advantage of our lunch location… Athens.

Brewery 33 – Logan, Ohio

This was my first time at Brewery 33, a brewery located right outside of Hocking Hills alongside the highway. The building they are located in is nice sized and they had somewhere around 15 beers on tap (I didn’t take notes… forgive me if I’m off.) – The folks in the taproom were super friendly and more than happy to talk about their beer (or anything else we could think of to bring up, too) – this is what I love about sitting at a bar, and even more so if you catch someone right after they open their doors, too.

Little Fish – Athens, Ohio

Next up in our brewery extravaganza was a place that I’m a little more familiar with – a brewery that has plans to expand into Dayton, Ohio this year… Little Fish. These guys have a farm-to-table-inspired brewery that, to be honest, I could have spent all day hanging out at. We drank a couple of their beers (including their fantastic ‘Maker of Things’ foeder-aged sour) and snagged a lunch that I certainly won’t be forgetting any time soon! I’ve talked in the past about how much I love what they are doing, and it’s no wonder that they’ve been on the podcast several times over the past few years.

Devil’s Kettle – Athens, Ohio

Up next? Another familiar place to fans of Cincy Brewcast. The newest brewery in Athens isn’t exactly new anymore… but they are still the small guys. I always have a blast here, too – and was really happy to see that they had a whole range of great traditional German beer styles on tap, including a couple of different bock beers, which if you know me – you know is a path right into my good graces. I haven’t had a chance to talk to brewery owner Cameron Fuller for a few years, now – so it was great to run into him and see that things are still moving along nicely (especially after the last couple of chaotic years).

We finally arrived in town (Elkins West Virginia) around dark and made two quick stops before hitting up the cabin. We needed to stock up on some cabin beers, and we needed some dinner. Here’s where we start to get the picture of how wildly weird West Virginia is. We stopped at a gas station that from the outside looked like your standard rural place to fill up your tank and grab some chips and snacks. Once you got into this place, though – we saw that there was a whole bunch more happening behind the facade. A two “headed” Pegas system was filling growlers behind the bar, and a massive cooler, that while it of course stocked those macro usuals also had a great selection of local and national craft beer.

We stopped into what might have been the smallest Kroger that I’ve ever been in, next, to grab some ingredients for the first of a few really awesome meals that our buddy Marco would rock out for us over the weekend. Nothing like some midnight sausage and peppers to prep for the following day!

The night was well rounded by Cards Against Humanity, some music and finally the arrival of our final travelling buddy, Quick Trip.

We Journey – Day 2

There are several breweries that are within driving range of Elkins – but it’s definitely driving. The farthest away was an hour and a half, and then the stops were about 40 minutes or so apart. We ventured out to the farthest to kick things off – setting off so that we’d make it there just as they opened their doors for the day.

Screech Owl Brewing, Bruceton Mills, West Virginia

I was certain as we got within a mile of Screech Owl Brewing that we had made a wrong turn. There was no way that a brewery could be located out there… we were supposed to be meeting a friend of Matt’s, Kara, who works for WV’s Greenbriar Valley Brewing for lunch – and I was just positive that we were going to have to find cell reception long enough to let her know we had gotten ourselves lost.

Sure enough, though – after a “sharp left” we pulled up a small hill, and there it was. Screech Owl is a rustic – small brewpub and while it was the first brewery to catch me off guard, it wouldn’t be the last.

As soon as the doors opened for the day, we were greeted by some of the warmest smiles I’ve encountered in a taproom in a long time. The head chef made his way over to our table to ask us where we were from, and to give us the rundown of all the specials as well as a quick story of what the place was all about. Within 10 minutes of the doors being opened, all the tables were full, laughter filled the air and I realized that this brewery was unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time.

Over our stay, we learned that they are cranking out the beer in their small brewpub – and have plans for a massive new space that should be happening this year. The idea of a neighborhood brewery in West Virginia was being clearly illustrated to us as something very different from what we were used to.

High Ground Brewing – Terra Alta, West Virginia

A short car ride later, we pulled up to High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta. To say that this place was unassuming from the outside is a huge understatement. A very nondescript pole barn-type building sits along a gravel road in a very small town… and if it wasn’t for a stack of cans and some kegs in the fenced-in yard outside, I don’t think I would have ever guessed that it housed a taproom.

Entering the building, though, you get hit with a fantastic little taproom. Around 30 or so seats sit in a wood-decorated room, with a medium-sized bar along one side. Behind the bar, you can catch a glimpse into their production space and a 10bbl brewhouse. It looked as if these guys do a lot of canning, which was another trend that I’d be curious to know if it’s a result of recent industry changes, or if this is a “West Virginia” thing.

High Ground had a few things on the beer side that jumped out at me. Pastry Stouts, NE IPAs sat right next to a Munich Style Dunkel that I absolutely loved – and they even had a ‘Pseudo-Lager’ on tap that was brewed with Kviek yeast.

The trend that you should be seeing here is that once again… this taproom caught me off guard. Not only was it not what I was expecting as we pulled up – but the amount of beer that they were making for such a small taproom was very different from what I’m used to seeing.

Mountain State Brewing – Thomas, West Virginia

Mountain State takes the cake for me… this was a really freaking cool taproom. Walking in there was probably 6 to 8 seats at a big stone bar, and across from that was a big stone, wood-burning fireplace roaring away. Kitschy decor lined every surface, from a bear-foot turned into a lamp to pictures and knick-knacks that all made you feel like you were… well… in the mountains.

The taproom was, once again, tiny. We learned that they were in the process of expanding things a bit with a new food addition coming in one of the rooms that attaches to the space. They also can their beer and use the on-site brewhouse to feed several other taprooms around the state. There were only a couple of their own beers on tap, but that didn’t seem to upset the folks at the bar – I saw more White Claw cans and Michelob Ultra cans than I did pints of house-brewed beer (they had a full bar of options for you to choose from).

Mountain State was a strange one… but the snow outside had really started to pick up, and I 100% could have spent the entire evening in that wood fire warmed taproom knocking back beers out of mason jar glassware. It captured exactly what I want a “mountain town taproom” to feel like. Excellent time!

Stumptown Brewing – Davis, West Virginia

The sun was starting to set, and we made our way into our final brewery of the day, just a short drive down the road to Davis, WV. Stumptown was probably the most familiar taproom that we’d set foot in. It was again, on the smaller side – with about 30 or so seats. The beers hit on all the styles you’d expect, from West Coast IPAs to Hazy IPAs to Kettle Sours and everything in between.

If you picked up Stumptown and dropped it back here it definitely wouldn’t feel out of place. The taproom felt classy, clean, and familiar… it makes me really want to spend a little bit of time in Davis West Virginia to see what this small town of under 700 residents is all about!

Our night ended much like day one… with some great food from Marco (it was midnight steaks this time…) music, and some cards… a beautiful end to a fantastic day!

Taking It Easy – Day 3

We had plans to make another big run of day three, with several breweries on the itinerary, but decided instead to make an easy afternoon out of it, and just spend some time in Elkins, instead. My goodness am I glad we did, too. Once the doors opened, we loaded up and made our way down to Big Timber brewing in town.

Big Timber – Elkins, West Virginia

You know what I’m going to say about the taproom at Big Timber – it was smaller than I expected. For a brewery making as much beer as they are, I expected a larger space than their beautiful, wood-covered taproom. We drank through their menu (they had a Brett beer called ‘Bag of Screaming Goats’ that was a fruity glass of absolute heaven) and had a great time enjoying a vibe that was calm, friendly and once again, very unique to everything else we had experienced. Right as we were about to walk out the door we were greeted by the head brewer who had been alerted that a bunch of strange podcasters were in the taproom.

After chatting with him for a while he dropped the sentence that really unlocked the future of Big TImber – “You guys wanna see the production space”? He drove around the corner with us to show us their BIG production brewery and an under-construction taproom that is going to absolutely blow folks away when it opens its doors this year (hopefully).

We talked for a long time, about the West Virginia beer scene, about the brewery, and got a great picture of how Big Timber’s growth is going to keep fulfilling the ideas that they started when they opened their doors back in 2014.

We hit up a local restaurant for dinner that night – a place called El Gran Sabor that freaking blew me away. The restaurant is tucked into a house, with a big music venue attached to the back of it. It sounds strange, but when you see it… it just makes sense.

Heading Home – Day 4

The last day was spent packing, and then hitting the road. We (of course) had to make a lunch stop on the way back, though – and figured we might as well finish out the Athens beer scene that we started earlier in the weekend.

Jackie O’s – Athens, Ohio

We made a quick stop for food, and a beer or two at Jackie O’s public house. The sun had finally come back, things were warm again and it couldn’t have been a better day to be in Athens. If you are a beer drinker, I don’t assume that I have to break down what Jackie O’s is about, do I? I had a fun honey beer, and an English Pub ale that both gave me a minute to contemplate what I learned about West Virginia beer, and in turn… Cincinnati Beer.

What I Take Away

West Virginia continued to surprise me all weekend. I never knew what the next taproom was going to be like, I couldn’t have guessed how big any of the breweries were. The surprises became a bit of a theme, which is something that we don’t get a lot of in Cincinnati.

There don’t seem to be small, tight-knit brewing communities the way there are other places because the scene is still so spread out.

Most importantly, I was happy to see that almost every person that I encountered during (or talked to after) our trip was kind, welcoming, and eager to show us what the state has to offer.

I can 100% guarantee that I will be in more than one of these taprooms again in the future… and I can’t wait to be surprised again, I’m sure, at how much things have changed – and how much I’m sure they will stay the same.