By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
DAVIS – Microbreweries have become quite popular and Tucker County is fortunate to have three breweries that have followers from all across the state and beyond. Each of these breweries is gearing up for the upcoming Brew Skies Festival, slated for Aug. 19 and 20 at Timberline Four Seasons Resort.
Blackwater Brewing Company owner and brewer Lincoln Wilkins said the brewery is on the cusp of a major transformation. They plan to open a new restaurant on one side of their business that will offer an entirely different menu to the area.
“We have a restaurateur who is going to be coming in and leasing out one side of our building, bringing in a new restaurant,” Wilkins said. “That will free me up and allow me to begin work on renovations to accommodate a new 15 barrel brew house.”
Wilkins said meeting the demand for Blackwater Brewing’s beer has been hard to keep up.
“With all the growth and traffic we are seeing up on the mountain, we need to expand to keep up,” he said. “We will be expanding our capacity for our standard brews – European style session beers. We have a hard time keeping these in stock and keeping up with the demands from retailers for those.”
Wilkins said once they expand, they will begin brewing a wider variety of styles and seasonal beers.
Blackwater Brewing Company is located in Davis across from the Grant County Bank. They started in Tucker County in 2012. Additional information about Blackwater Brewing Company is available on Facebook or online at www.blackwaterbrewingwv.com. or by calling 304-259-4221.
Stumptown Ales, located in Davis, is in the process of adding a 10-barrel brewing system. Owners Cindy Robeson and her husband Jon said they are upgrading from a 2.5 barrel to the 10 barrel system.
“That should be in place with us this fall,” Cindy Robeson said. “Once that is in place, we will start distributing kegs around the state, starting with the local restaurants. We have a waiting list of restaurants and venues asking for our beer so we will start branching off as soon as we can.”
She said Stumptown Ales has recently added growlers.
“We offer 10 taps on our wall and have 20 recipes we rotate,” Cindy Robeson said. “We are always coming up with new stuff.”
Stumptown Ales opened in Aug. 2015 and is located in Davis. Additional information about Stumptown Ales is available on Facebook or online at www.stumptownales.com. or by calling 304-259-5570.
Mountain State Brewing is adding a new brewery. It is one of the oldest distributing microbreweries and tap rooms in the state. They are located in Thomas.
Owners Brian Arnett and Willie Lehman are stepbrothers, and they founded the brewery in 2005 in Thomas. Arnett said they wanted to locate their business in Thomas because it is the top of the watershed.
Although in the beginning, it was just the two owners, they said they have expanded and now have four to five employees at Mountain State Brewing.
Additional information about Mountain State Brewing is available on Facebook, online at www.mountainstatebrewing.com or by calling 304-463-4500.
