West Virginia Beer Roads Charles Bockway & Erin McCoy

We have restarted our West Virginia Beer Roads Roundtable podcast series. On each Roundtable program, a guest craft beer fan will join Charles and Erin for a discussion of the West Virginia and regional craft beer scene.







Today’s Roundtable discussion occurs at the East End Pub in Charleston WV. Joining Erin McCoy and Charles Bockway for the discussion is Libby Rojas, one of Charleston’s top craft beer advocates.







Our sincere appreciation goes out to the Pub’s proprietor, Suzi Chapman, and her staff for hosting us. Future Roundtables will be recorded at other popular craft beer sales locations in the Charleston-Huntington regional market.







East End Pub proprietor Suzi Chapman (at right) with Charles, Erin, and Libby.







Listen to the podcast







Episode 081, West Virginia Beer Roads • 52 Minutes







Program Flow







TIME (Min:Sec)TOPIC00:00Intro01:20Talk with Suzi Chapman of East End Pub04:20Springtime Beers07:30Tasting Hey! Porter by The Freefolk Brewery10:21Pros & Cons of Beer Flights, Proper Glassware16:50Prices of Craft Drafts23:00Rebirth and Tasting of Devil Anse IPAfrom Greenbrier Valley Brewing30:08Alcohol Concerns of World Health Organization35:45What’s Up with P.O.D.A.?43:45The Charleston Area Brewery Scene







Libby, Erin, and Charles. Podcasting from the Charleston’s East End Pub

Another spring is fast approaching on the yearly merry-go-round. Most craft breweries find that beer also needs a seasonal refresh. Moving out of the big, dark. and strongly-flavored, higher-alcohol winter ales. Bringing in the lighter colors and fresher tastes of spring.







In our part of the country, the St. Patrick’s Day season is winter beer’s last hurrah. Roasty Stouts and richly malty Red Ales take over the taps for a short time but then are quickly supplanted as the weather begins to warm.







To get a read on the ever-changing beer scene, West Virginia Beer Roads recently visited Weathered Ground Brewery in Cool Ridge, WV. Brewery manager Sam Fonda sat down with WVBR host Charles Bockway to share his thoughts on the beer line-up. We also get Fonda’s read on the brewery’s business heading toward winter’s end and on other currently topical beer marketing and business issues.







Listen to the Podcast







Episode 080 • WV Beer Roads • 43 minutes







Sam and Charles discussing beers for the WV Beer Roads podcast. [PHOTO by Russell Weaver]







From pervasive to obscure







Like most West Virginia brewers, WGB’s largest-selling beers are mostly IPAs, Quick Sours, and Lagers. Sam, however, also always keeps on tap a group of beers that aren’t so well-known or popular. He reserves a portion of his tap list for beer styles he likes to drink, whether or not they are particularly popular. Sometimes, they can be pretty obscure styles — but always well-made and tasty.







One of the two Weathered Ground tap list boards illustrates their commitment to variety. You’ll always find some lesser-known or obscure beer styles mixed in the the favorites..







During the interview, we like to feature a flight of beers that the brewer chooses to best represent beers Weathered Ground wants to bring attention to. During this visit, they included:







Shrouded in Light Czech-style Pilsner







An extremely quaffable lager with hops and malt in perfect harmony. 5% ABV







Journey to Avalon Pale Ale







A classic American pale ale brewed with the new locally developed Avalon Malt. Hopped with Centennial, Simcoe, and Amarillo. 5.3% ABV







Stop and Smell the Citrus Hazy IPA







A modern citrusy-hop-flavored IPA with low bitterness. 6.1% ABV







To the Gills Imperial Stout/Pastry Stout







Macadamia & coconut flavored, rye whiskey barrel-aged, rich imperial stout. 11.5% ABV







Sam Fonda (at right) and Charles talking malt in the grain storage room. [PHOTO by Russell Weaver]







Addicted to Craft Malt







What has to impress any visitor to Weathered Ground Brewery is the great variety of malts that they regularly use in their beer making. They rarely approximate a malt flavor in a recipe by substituting a malt they can buy in large quantities at a lower price. And when they do substitute say, a US malt for a foreign malt, they most often use a locally produced craft malt that sells for premium prices. They never skimp on quality.







In Weathered Ground’s malt storage room, you’ll find scores of bagged malts from small local craft maltsters — both Riverbend Malt House and Carolina Malt House — making up large portions of the grain. As far as we know, Weathered Ground Brewery is the only “Craft Malt Certified” brewery in West Virginia.









Local malts at WGB [PHOTO by Russell Weaver]

When it comes to recent moves in West Virginia’s craft cider and beer markets, no one is making a larger business impact than is a man from Greenbrier County named Josh Bennett.







Bennett, who started up the Hawk Knob cidery a decade ago, last summer purchased the assets of Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company (GVBC), the state’s second largest selling brewery, and has restarted its brewing program.







When the former owner shut down the brewery last spring, something tugged at Bennett’s heart. “The thing that weighed on me was the jobs,” he said.







He knew many of the brewery’s employees and didn’t want to see all those folks unemployed. Initially, he didn’t think about actually buying the brewery. He thought its building might be a good place for his cidery to expand in. But then, some sessions with those laid-off employees opened his eyes to the possibility.







Greenbrier Valley Brewing’s owner, Josh Bennett (at right) with some of his brewery crew. L to R are Jeff Frizsell, Evan Metz, Travis Canterbury, and Bennett. (GVBC photo)







While Bennett is a man with a big heart, he’s also a guy with proven good business sense. He doesn’t plan on operating the brewery as a charity. He plans to run a profitable business. After taking charge of the brewery property last summer and bringing back the brewery staff, he is now well on his way to making the changes necessary to turn Greenbrier Valley Brewing into the first-class business venture it always had the potential to be, but in the past, could never quite achieve.















Hear Josh on WV Beer Roads Podcast







On Episode 78 of the West Virginia Beer Roads podcast, Charles and Erin talk with Josh Bennett about how he got started in the cider business and, eventually, the beer business. Listen in as Bennett reveals the twists and turns of his life that have taken him to cidery and brewery ownership.







Episode 078 • WV Beer Roads • 43 minutes















Caring about tradition







A very important thing, that people who don’t know him don’t recognize, is Bennett’s passion for tradition. A big factor that drove him to open a cidery was his remembrances of traditional Appalachian cider from back in the days of his youth in the Virginia mountains. Then come forward to around a dozen years ago, as he began seeing and sampling the new brands of American hard cider appearing on West Virginia retailers’ shelves. A realization hit him:. “It didn’t taste anything like what I had grown up making,” he says.







He found the big American ciders brands to be a lot sweeter and less complex than the ciders he learned to make growing up. His homemade ciders were barrel fermented and barrel aged, with wild yeast fermentation. They were much more complex and much drier than the contemporary, mass-marketed commercial brands.







Room for Appalachian-style cider







“I figured there must be quite a hole in the market,” he said, and he thought there had to be a lot of folks who would also enjoy traditional Appalachian-style cider. But it wasn’t available for them to try.







And that’s when he got Hawk Knob Hard Cidery going.







Josh Bennett pouring a glass of Hawk Knob cider at his tasting room in 2015.







In 2014, Hawk Knob cidery began producing traditional Appalachian-style ciders and slowly introduced them to the market. As people tried his ciders, they learned to like them. Yes, they’re quite different from your Angry Orchard and Bold Roc...

In this episode of West Virginia Beer Roads, Charles and Erin take a quick, fun look and review of some interesting points gleaned from crowd-sourced opinions on the WV local beer market in 2023.







We took a close look at crowd-sourced data from the Untappd website to uncover:









* which West Virginia breweries the Untappd users thought did the best with their new beer releases in 2023;







* which West Virginia breweries the Untappd crowd ranks in the overall Top 10.









Listen to the Podcast







28 minutes • WVBR’s podcasts are also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other sites







Looking at crowd sourced data







While we may not always agree with the crowd, it’s interesting to see where the big numbers of craft beer drinkers rate different beers and different brewers. Untappd’s strength lies in that, over time, it attracts thousands of different craft beer drinkers to record their opinions on beers available in the West Virginia market.







For craft beer industry observers, that aggregation of opinions, over time, does hold some valuable data about brewers, beers, and beer styles. But it’s not the only thing we recommend you consider when thinking about local beer. In reality, nothing tops your own personal taste when it comes to choosing the beer you drink. If you like it, buy it.







We have to admit, however, it’s fun to compare our personal opinions on specific beers and breweries with that of the Untappd crowd. Do you agree or disagree?







We like that Untappd’s brewery ratings, watched over time, provide some indicators of how breweries may be trending up, down, or remaining steady in comparison to the ratings of other West Virginia brewers. This crowd-sourced data is one indicator of what is moving in the local market and of what the local craft beer market thinks about a beer.







Find lots more information on individual beers and breweries on the Untappd website.







Untappd shows a tight grouping of WV brewers at the end of 2023

When it comes to owning and operating a small craft brewery in West Virginia, it’s very often a family affair. A marriage not only unites two people, but it also brings two voices together in the operation and management of a family-owned brewery.







On this West Virginia Beer Roads episode, host Erin McCoy interviews two brewery partners who both play very important roles in their brewery’s operations along with their brewery manager spouses. While WV Beer Roads podcasts often explore the business of brewing from the brewer’s perspective, this interview jumps into brewery operations from the perspective of the brewer’s business partner and life partner.







Aryn Jane Fonda with her business partners, Sam Fonda (left) and Tony Kelly, as they toast this year’s 6th anniversary of Weathered Ground Brewery. (WGB photo)







Guests on the podcast are Aryn Fonda of Weathered Ground Brewery and Jana Wolfe of High Ground Brewing. Together, they provide a most insightful and refreshing view of brewery business in West Virginia — a family-affair perspective that you’ll definitely want to hear.







Jana Wolfe with her husband and High Ground Brewing business partner, Dallas “DJ” Wolfe







Listen to the podcast







WV Beer Roads • Episode 76 • 45 minutes







[Interview conducted via Zoom on Oct. 24, 2023]







LINKS for additional information







Weathered Ground Brewery High Ground Brewing

With crisp autumn evenings beginning to envelop us across West Virginia, it’s a sure sign that Pumpkin Beer season has arrived.







Listen in to the West Virginia Beer Roads crew as we sample and report on six seasonal pumpkin spice ales, which should be pretty widely available around urban markets in WV. Hosts Erin and Charles are joined on the podcast by pumpkin beer aficionado, Lynette Stewart. For the past decade, Lynette has been a leader in the local Charleston craft beer scene — and she loves her pumpkin beer.







The Pumpkin Podcast







Join us for half an hour of pumpkin fun on WVBR Episode 75.







Episode 75 • WV Beer Roads Podcast • Pumpkin Beer















Our Pumpkin Beer Line-up















We begin our tasting with Jack-O by Samual Adams, then move to Pumpkin Ale from Saranac, followed by Pumpkin Swirl from Rusty Rail Brewing, then Punkin Ale by Dogfish Head, Pumking by Southern Tier, and Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard. The beers ABV’s ranged from 4.4% to 9.0% — showing our craft brewers love to put their own interpretation on the style. Colors were various shades of amber, with Pumking being the lightest shade.























Pumpkin spice beers are known for their inclusion of spices common in pumpkin pie. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, and clove. We found the spice but did not find pumpkin pie’s sweetness in these beers. Overall, they drank mostly just off-dry, with some having a bit more malty sweetness than others. This dryness level certainly makes them more drinkable and would seem to make them a better contrast to the sweetness/richness of pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice roll desserts.







Loving beer can art



























We loved the modern graphic-style can art on the Pumpkin Swirl from Rusty Rail, with the spirals reminding us of pumpkin spice rolls. We also found this year’s illustration on the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale can to be intriguing and fun.















Did we convert Erin from her normal pumpkin-beer-avoidance state to becoming a pumpkin beer fan? Listen in.























Look for these pumpkin spiced beers from WV brewers: Abolitionist Autumn Fest: An amber festbier with pie spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla — sans pumpkin.







Weathered Ground Gourdy Pleasure: Pumpkin Pie Spiced Porter, 6.4% ABV.Look for it in the Charleston-Huntington region at The Board Room, Bricks and Barrels, The Tap, Fruth Pharmacy, The Pallet Bar, 1861, Booktenders, and Guyan Country Club







Pumpkin Beer recipe for homebrewers