The Best Breweries Across the 50 States

[WVU82_rivals]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddri...ries-across-the-50-states/ss-BBroZ1I#image=48

West Virginia
Greenbrier Valley Brewing is a brewery that takes true pride in their roots, shown by their tendency to name beers after local legends or mythical figures. One of these figures is the notorious Mothman (often blamed for the collapse of the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant) who is said to be a giant moth-like create flying about in the night.Staying true to the legend, Greenbrier Valley's Mothman Black IPA is a dark beer that contains a balance of bitter citrus and touches of toffee and chocolate.

Virginia
Steampunk fans will delight in the design aspects of Flying Mouse Brewery's beers. With their adventurous mouse mascot, Bartleby Hopsworth, at the helm, the brewery works hard to make their beers iconic and memorable, both visually and taste-wise.With each beer being ranked by an easy number guide, fans of darker beer will appreciate Flying Mouse Eight, a full-flavored ale with a chocolate malt taste without any of the heaviness commonly associated with dark beers.

 

[WVUCOOPER]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddri...ries-across-the-50-states/ss-BBroZ1I#image=48

West Virginia
Greenbrier Valley Brewing is a brewery that takes true pride in their roots, shown by their tendency to name beers after local legends or mythical figures. One of these figures is the notorious Mothman (often blamed for the collapse of the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant) who is said to be a giant moth-like create flying about in the night.Staying true to the legend, Greenbrier Valley's Mothman Black IPA is a dark beer that contains a balance of bitter citrus and touches of toffee and chocolate.

Virginia
Steampunk fans will delight in the design aspects of Flying Mouse Brewery's beers. With their adventurous mouse mascot, Bartleby Hopsworth, at the helm, the brewery works hard to make their beers iconic and memorable, both visually and taste-wise.With each beer being ranked by an easy number guide, fans of darker beer will appreciate Flying Mouse Eight, a full-flavored ale with a chocolate malt taste without any of the heaviness commonly associated with dark beers.

Just spent the weekend in Lewisburg and it's always such a pleasure to get Mothman on tap.

 

[JLW71073]

I'm a little skeptical on Flying Mouse. There are a lot of great breweries in Virginia but I don't know that they are the best.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddri...ries-across-the-50-states/ss-BBroZ1I#image=48

West Virginia
Greenbrier Valley Brewing is a brewery that takes true pride in their roots, shown by their tendency to name beers after local legends or mythical figures. One of these figures is the notorious Mothman (often blamed for the collapse of the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant) who is said to be a giant moth-like create flying about in the night.Staying true to the legend, Greenbrier Valley's Mothman Black IPA is a dark beer that contains a balance of bitter citrus and touches of toffee and chocolate.

Virginia
Steampunk fans will delight in the design aspects of Flying Mouse Brewery's beers. With their adventurous mouse mascot, Bartleby Hopsworth, at the helm, the brewery works hard to make their beers iconic and memorable, both visually and taste-wise.With each beer being ranked by an easy number guide, fans of darker beer will appreciate Flying Mouse Eight, a full-flavored ale with a chocolate malt taste without any of the heaviness commonly associated with dark beers.

WV is getting some really good craft breweries going. Greenbrier is good, but I don't know if I can call any one of them the best in WV. I think each probably has a respective style that's the best in the state.

Chestnut Brew Works: Halleck Pale Ale
Big Timber Brewery: Session IPA
Black Water Brewery: Wood Hick Vanilla Maple Porter
Morgantown Brewing: Eighty Shilling Scotch Ale
North End Tavern: Roedy's Red

They started the Brew Skies festival last year at Timberline where all the craft brewers can bring their beers and people can sample them. For this year they are also inviting homebrewers to submit entries for a homebrew contest. I have a couple that I'm considering entering, but I'm not sure right now.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

BTW, if you are into beers and are in Elkins there is a place on Davis Ave. called The Brewstel that has a tasting room with 21 craft beers on tap. They have a good selection of the WV beers as well as beers from other states.

 

[JLW71073]

WV is getting some really good craft breweries going. Greenbrier is good, but I don't know if I can call any one of them the best in WV. I think each probably has a respective style that's the best in the state.

Chestnut Brew Works: Halleck Pale Ale
Big Timber Brewery: Session IPA
Black Water Brewery: Wood Hick Vanilla Maple Porter
Morgantown Brewing: Eighty Shilling Scotch Ale
North End Tavern: Roedy's Red

They started the Brew Skies festival last year at Timberline where all the craft brewers can bring their beers and people can sample them. For this year they are also inviting homebrewers to submit entries for a homebrew contest. I have a couple that I'm considering entering, but I'm not sure right now.

Whitetail....I'm a homebrewer as well.

 

[WVUCOOPER]

WV is getting some really good craft breweries going. Greenbrier is good, but I don't know if I can call any one of them the best in WV. I think each probably has a respective style that's the best in the state.

Chestnut Brew Works: Halleck Pale Ale
Big Timber Brewery: Session IPA
Black Water Brewery: Wood Hick Vanilla Maple Porter
Morgantown Brewing: Eighty Shilling Scotch Ale
North End Tavern: Roedy's Red

They started the Brew Skies festival last year at Timberline where all the craft brewers can bring their beers and people can sample them. For this year they are also inviting homebrewers to submit entries for a homebrew contest. I have a couple that I'm considering entering, but I'm not sure right now.

You left out Mountain State. I like a few of their beers, especially Almost Heaven Amber Ale and their Tap Room is really cool, though it's the only one I've been to, so I can't really compare.

Also, the Old 97's are playing Brew Skies this year!

 

[WhiteTailEER]

You left out Mountain State. I like a few of their beers, especially Almost Heaven Amber Ale and their Tap Room is really cool, though it's the only one I've been to, so I can't really compare.

Also, the Old 97's are playing Brew Skies this year!

Yes, I did. That was definitely an oversight on my part. I like their IPA, but they've been out in bottles so long I think I just overlooked them as far as the "new" breweries were concerned ... although the NET has probably been there longer than they have and maybe Blackwater too. So, let's just chalk it up to my f' up.

I enjoyed Brew Skies last year, but have to admit I only have a passing interest in the musical acts. It's nice having them there, but I'm there for the beer.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

Whitetail....I'm a homebrewer as well.

I've made about 40 batches. I have a citrus IPA and a holiday spice beer that I've made a few times and they are excellent although I'm still experimenting with the hop combinations on the Citrus IPA.

I have a chest freezer that I've converted into a kegerator with 3 taps on it. I have 6 kegs now, so I'm trying to keep a good rotation going so that as soon as something runs out I'm ready with something new that's been aged 30 days and ready to go in.

I take 2 kegs to tailgates typically too, so it's harder to keep up during football season.

 

[JLW71073]

I've made about 40 batches. I have a citrus IPA and a holiday spice beer that I've made a few times and they are excellent although I'm still experimenting with the hop combinations on the Citrus IPA.

I have a chest freezer that I've converted into a kegerator with 3 taps on it. I have 6 kegs now, so I'm trying to keep a good rotation going so that as soon as something runs out I'm ready with something new that's been aged 30 days and ready to go in.

I take 2 kegs to tailgates typically too, so it's harder to keep up during football season.

I've been brewing since 2009. I have no idea how many batches I've made. I know for a couple of years I was close to 100 gallons a year. I'm now lucky to get 5 batches done in a year.

I mostly brew hoppy beers, stouts, and porters. I still like my saison and heffe, but admit I can't replicate my saison anymore. I love citrus ipa's have you tried mosaic hops with that beer? I had a beer in Wilmington. NC that was brewed with mosaic and citra hops (and maybe one other). It was light, dry and crisp, would be a perfect beer for summer. I might work on a recipe for summer.

 

[WVUCOOPER]

I've been brewing since 2009. I have no idea how many batches I've made. I know for a couple of years I was close to 100 gallons a year. I'm now lucky to get 5 batches done in a year.

I mostly brew hoppy beers, stouts, and porters. I still like my saison and heffe, but admit I can't replicate my saison anymore. I love citrus ipa's have you tried mosaic hops with that beer? I had a beer in Wilmington. NC that was brewed with mosaic and citra hops (and maybe one other). It was light, dry and crisp, would be a perfect beer for summer. I might work on a recipe for summer.

What kinda rig you guys work with. I did the Mr. Beer thing ([laughing]) and then moved on to something from Midwest Supplies and just kinda lost time.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

I've been brewing since 2009. I have no idea how many batches I've made. I know for a couple of years I was close to 100 gallons a year. I'm now lucky to get 5 batches done in a year.

I mostly brew hoppy beers, stouts, and porters. I still like my saison and heffe, but admit I can't replicate my saison anymore. I love citrus ipa's have you tried mosaic hops with that beer? I had a beer in Wilmington. NC that was brewed with mosaic and citra hops (and maybe one other). It was light, dry and crisp, would be a perfect beer for summer. I might work on a recipe for summer.

I haven't used mosaic hops. My citrus IPA actually has fresh orange juice and orange peels as part of the boil. There are cascade and citra hops in the boil and then it's dry hopped with citra during secondary fermentation. I probably have about 20 different varieties of hops in my freezer right now, varying quantities of each.

I probably started around 2002-2003, but hadn't brewed at all for about 6 years or so and then started back up last year.

I'm not a heffe fan, so I haven't brewed any of those lately. I did a cherry wheat a long time ago and also a lemon wheat (that was awful, LOL), but that's about it. I'd like to try a saison sometime soon.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

What kinda rig you guys work with. I did the Mr. Beer thing ([laughing]) and then moved on to something from Midwest Supplies and just kinda lost time.

Nothing wrong at all with Mr Beer. That's where I started. Then I moved on from that to Brewer's Best kits (which required an additional investment in a few things like the bucket and carboys), then from that to various extract recipes (just like the Brewer's Best kit, only not in kit form), and now I'm doing all-grain.

In fact, there was a Mr Beer recipe that I really really liked, so the beer that's in my secondary right now is an attempt at reproducing that same recipe with all-grain.

I started bottling at first with the Mr Beer kits, but then when I started making bigger batches taking stuff to tailgates I switched to kegs and don't use anything but kegs now and just do forced carbonation. The cleaning and sanitizing and bottling and capping for a 5 gallon batch using bottles just got too cumbersome and tedious for my liking.

 

[JLW71073]

What kinda rig you guys work with. I did the Mr. Beer thing ([laughing]) and then moved on to something from Midwest Supplies and just kinda lost time.

I started with 5 gallon extract kits, then switched to all grain. I use a 10 gallon boil kettle, a 10 gallon mash tun (orange igloo water cooler) with a SS false bottom, plastic buckets for fermentation and short secondaries, glass carboy's for long-term secondary or bulk age, and I keg with forced carbonation. Bottling became a big pain in the ***. Now if I want to give away some bottle, I just bittle off the keg.

 

[JLW71073]

I haven't used mosaic hops. My citrus IPA actually has fresh orange juice and orange peels as part of the boil. There are cascade and citra hops in the boil and then it's dry hopped with citra during secondary fermentation. I probably have about 20 different varieties of hops in my freezer right now, varying quantities of each.

I probably started around 2002-2003, but hadn't brewed at all for about 6 years or so and then started back up last year.

I'm not a heffe fan, so I haven't brewed any of those lately. I did a cherry wheat a long time ago and also a lemon wheat (that was awful, LOL), but that's about it. I'd like to try a saison sometime soon.

That IPA sounds pretty good. Might have to ask for the recipe.

The saison is easy and cheap. It's similar to the heffe in the fact that it only has grain, water, hops and yeast, nothing else. Ferment it hot and you get some funky flavors that make it pretty damn good. I think my problem with it the last couple times I made it was I used a different yeast and it doesn't provide the same "peppery" flavor I like in it.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

That IPA sounds pretty good. Might have to ask for the recipe.

The saison is easy and cheap. It's similar to the heffe in the fact that it only has grain, water, hops and yeast, nothing else. Ferment it hot and you get some funky flavors that make it pretty damn good. I think my problem with it the last couple times I made it was I used a different yeast and it doesn't provide the same "peppery" flavor I like in it.

I'm still experimenting with it some, but I have no problem sharing the recipe. It's an extract recipe. I want to try an all-grain version of it sometime, but will be making the extract version again soon (probably the next batch I make). If I can remember this evening I'll post the recipe for you.

I'm having trouble maintaining temperature in my mash tun, the cooler that I bought and converted was a bit too cheap. I didn't pay attention when buying it but it doesn't have any insulation in the lid.

I have a cherry wood smoked IPA in my kegerator right now. I bought 5 pounds of cherry wood smoked grain and then found a recipe, but the recipe only called for a little over 1/2 pound and it doesn't have quite the smoke flavor I was hoping for. I'm going to increase that to a full pound and try again. Might play around with the hops on it also.

 

[WhiteTailEER]

Bottling became a big pain in the ***. Now if I want to give away some bottle, I just bittle off the keg.

^^^^^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[WVUCOOPER]

^^^^^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I assume/hope the kegging with forced carbonation is pretty easy skill to pick up? Are you guys playing with the old soda kegs, pony kegs or the full 1/2 half kegs?

 

[WhiteTailEER]

I assume/hope the kegging with forced carbonation is pretty easy skill to pick up? Are you guys playing with the old soda kegs, pony kegs or the full 1/2 half kegs?

I use the soda kegs ... you'll see them called corny kegs or cornelius kegs. There is ball lock and pin lock, the ball lock ones are the ones that are primarily used for homebrewing. You may see them as Pepsi or Coke kegs too ... Pepsi used the ball lock and Coke used the pin lock.

Of course with the kegs you also have to get a CO2 tank and regulator and the fittings and a picnic tap.

The forced carbonation is really pretty simple though. I put 40 psi on them for 24 hours, and then 20 psi for another day or two. There are specific carbonation levels that are supposed to be the target on different styles of beer, but I don't get that specific with it. When the carbonation seems right, it's done. It helps if you have them colder as the CO2 more easily absorbs when the beer is cold, and it can help a bit to shake the keg while doing it too, but I don't typically do the shaking part.

The good part is that you're just transferring from fermenter into the keg. You don't have to mess with priming sugar and then waiting a week or two or whatever. Your beer can be ready in a couple of days if you need.(I use primary and secondary fermentation even if the secondary is only going to be for a week or so, and I also use Irish Moss as a fining agent when I brew so the trub settles and the beer is more easily extracted without disturbing the trub) Anyway, doing all of that, I'm siphoning pretty much only beer into the keg and no trub.

 

[JLW71073]

I assume/hope the kegging with forced carbonation is pretty easy skill to pick up? Are you guys playing with the old soda kegs, pony kegs or the full 1/2 half kegs?

It's pretty easy to pick up and once you get used to it you will never want to wash another bottle again. I use soda kegs, they are easy to clean since you can easily disassemble. They are also easy to fill and carb. If you have a kegerator you just need to switch out the fittings to accommodate a pepsi keg.

There are a ton of resources on the interwebs on how carb. I essentially, pump the keg with about 25 psi to seal it up, then crank the psi down to 20 and place the keg on it's side and rock it back an forth for about 5 min to help it infuse. Then stand it back up put it in the kegerator, crank the psi's down to 10 to 20 (depending on how fast you want it to carb up) and let it sit there for a week to a couple of weeks. Serving pressure for me is around 10 psi.

Just like that, no more bottles to clean or store.