Saturday, July 9, 2011

West Virginia Brewing

Front of Mountain State Brewing growler
First off I haven't forgot about this blog. 

Not much has been going on brewing wise here because over the past month or so my mom came up to visit before having knee surgery, I went over to Connecticut to dog sit for my brother the next weekend and then we just got back from going down to WV for vacation.

All this time the Raspberry and Rhubarb has been in the beer hopefully making what will eventually be a very tasty brew.  I will try to bottle it within the next week or so.

My vacation to WV was however not without so beer related stops. 

First some background...
When I was in graduate school at WVU the only place in WV that actually brewed their own beer was the WV Brew Pub.  It was a great place to go and the atmosphere was great (and I used to have an awesome growler which I took to get filled here in Albany and the idiot waitress gave to someone else).   When I was in the Political Science graduate program we would always go there after Friday afternoon colloquiums and just sit around drinking and shooting the bull with the professors who joined us.  One of my professors even held the final class down there when presented our research papers for the Bureaucracy Seminar, he bought the beer but you couldn't drink until you had presented your paper.

After moving to Albany I had heard that the WV Brew Pub had closed ...this saddened me greatly but as it turned out they did reopen under new management and a new name: The Morgantown Brewing Company which had beers on par with the original.  It wasn't until this past Christmas when I was home and went out to dinner with family and friends that I learned about a new brewery Bridge Brew Works which is located near the New River Gorge Bridge and sampled the one brew that the restaurant had on tap (and I remember enjoying it greatly).  About a month prior to my journey down to WV I saw a friend had posted about the Mountain State Brewing Company which has three locations one of which is located in Morgantown.  It also turns out there are also 4 other brewing companies in the state for a total of 7 brewing companies in the state.

My goal while in WV was to go to as many of these new brew pubs as possible. 
Our fourth day in WV my girlfriend and I did the New River Bridge Walk where you walk the entire length of the bridge on the 24 inch cat walk that runs under the bridge.

876 ft up in the air on a 24'' catwalk...FUN!
Afterwards we drove down to the Bridge Brew Works brewery which is basically a medium sized building, we didn't go in because I don't think they give tours (sad puppy).  I did however pick these two beauties up at the Capitol Market in Charleston and can't wait to taste them.
Belgian Style Dubbel and Tripel

On our way back North we stayed with my college roommate in Morgantown and met one of my other buddies for drinks at the Mountain State Brewing Company where I got this growler (didn't get anything in it due to not wanting to worry about it spilling while traveling) but they too had some really nice beers to enjoy.


Back of Mountain St Brewing growler

While I am glad that there these new Brewing Companies in the state recently my post retirement dreams (I figured by then I would be a much better homebrewer) was to move back to WV and open up my own Brew Pub...I guess I still could as of right now there are none located in the Southern part of the state but then again it could only be a fanciful dream that will never see fruition...

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