Big Timber Brewing Company
1210 S Davis Ave.
Elkins, WV 26241
(304) 637-5008

I heard tell of a little brewery in Elkins, WV. So, we went via Corridor H to Elkins, past the only McDonald's I know that serves a basket of cheese fries, a few turns and there it is a 1920s brick building that is currently the face for an eight-year old brewery that is rapidly expanding. Big Timber Brewing is an expanding business that bears watching and the demands a second visit.

As you enter the taproom, you notice the current bar is a thing of beauty. There is a table tucked away in an alcove and tables along the wall. The bar itself is an inches thick piece of varnished lumber that seats ten people. The bar stools are of stump seats supported by debarked tree branches, very substantial and just right for the surrounding countryside. The ceiling is knotty pine and it is held above the floor by rounded timbers suitable for a log cabin. It feels instantly comfortable.

Behind the bar are fifteen taps. By their own reckoning four beers are light, six are hoppy, two are sour, and two are malty. Flights of four are available but I did not realize that until it was too late. I began with its Almost Summer Wheat (5.6%), knowing full well it would not measure up the German Hefes I like so much. It did not - What it did do was provide a decent American version of a wheat beer. It was served headless, always a bad sign for a wheat beer, but it surprised with its consistency and its crispness. Give it a B.

My buddy had the Mexican Lager (5.3%). I tasted it and my tongue was immediately assaulted by a most unique flavor, but did I like it or hate it? I asked the beermaid what that taste was and she replied it was serrano peppers and fresh squeezed lime juice lovingly added by hand. This was a very unique lager with a fresh new taste. I was quite satisfied with it.

My second beer makes me wish Big Timber was around the corner from my house. It was Sweetness Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine weighing in at 12.4%. Here is how Big Timber describes this beer...“Loaded up with Caramel malts to blend with subtle notes of oak from aging  two years in barrels. Finishing mildly bitter and not overly sweet.” Here is how I describe it, “best damn beer I've had in quite awhile. No treacly sweetness, remarkable consistency from start to finish, chocolate and coffee off on the horizon that did not interfere with the complexity of flavors. Make it A+.”

There is no food here, save for small bags of chips. A food truck is apparently available some days, not this one. This little place is putting $2 million into a production and serving expansion that is going to be quite a showplace. I hear the existing bar is going to be moved into the new taproom.

There is a wide variety of merch available behind the bar-hoodies, tees, caps, coolers, cozies. I expect these are going to become a common site around this part of the state. Big Timber is a definite stop for any Questors nearby.

High Ground Brewing
102 Railroad Avenue
Terra Alta, WV 26764
(304) 789-1216

While golfing last week, I had the chance to attend the High Ground Brewing grand opening in Terra Alta, West Virginia.
(or Teralta, as the locals in West-by-God-Virginia say...)
High Ground is a microbrewery with a top room, a nice father and son operation, both having served in the military and happy to contribute to their small town's success. The son is the brewer (DJ) and is shown in front of the bright tanks. He had nine on tap for the weekend, with more fermenting in the tanks.
There was also a food truck outside (pulled pork, pit beef, and all the fixings!) and yard games to be played on the outdoor patio.

I tasted two of their offerings, the Coal Train Baltic Porter and the Mandatory Fun IPA.
Both were well-made and very satisfying.
High Ground will also offer trivia, live music, and brewhouse tours.

Shame it's over 3 hours away.
But if you are visiting Oakland, MD, it's only a 20- minute ride.

Stumptown Ales
390 William Ave
Davis, WV 26260
(304) 259-5570

The sister cities of Thomas and Davis, West Virginia have one brewery for every 400 of their 1216 citizens. The best of these three very nice breweries is Stumptown Ales, located on one of the few corners of downtown Davis.
This two-barrel microbrewery (going to ten) is situated in a rehabbed clapboard house. Inside the old door is a clash of cultures...aging hippie vs. lumberman vs. new age entrepreneur.
Rocking chairs in front of a fireplace, a family friendly atmosphere and a microbrewery in a town of 648 says aging hippie. The décor and heritage say lumberman in old photos, cross-cut saws, the bar and table tops say lumberman. The stainless steel and stumped tap feature, every beer in a snifter 10 oz or 14 oz with wine available with ThFrSaSun hours and the big screen TV channeling eclectic music playing through it, say new age entrepreneur.

When you order your first beer you get a glass that will stay with you no matter how many or what style beers you have. It gets a squirt clean between beers, but you drink $4.50 to $6 beers from the same 14 oz. glass. I had four different beers on my visit.
I started with Holy Citra and it surged to my top ten all time list. It was uber fresh, impossibly consistent, hazy and thick bodied, fruity noted with the cleanest nose of Citra hops you could ever ask for. After I finished that beer they opened the heavy drapes on nearly floor to ceiling windows and let in a beautiful view of small town West Virginia.

I went Holy Moses next, similar but with Mosaic hops. This was a great beer but godammitalltohell I had Holy Citra first and it was even better, so I wasn't at all let down, I was hankering for another Citra. The wait staff, a man and a woman, were polite and helpful but not what you call friendly. The gathering throng, however, made up for whatever the wait staff lacked in friendliness. There were serious beer aficionados here.

A change of pace for my next beer, Porter? I Barely Knew Her.
It was as fine a porter as you are going to find in an American microbrewery and it is a porter worthy of many a much larger brewery as well.
Read Ratebeer for a flowery description; this was a damn fine beer.

The bar had ten seats, there were three high tables, two round, one rectangle, and the rockers in front of the fireplace.
The tin ceiling could have been original but it was painted silver so it was hard to tell. The wait staff did not know or did not want to say. Free pretzels are provided, but there is really no food. I take this all in before finishing with a 10 oz. pour of Bewildered Hippie IPA, their hoppiest beer. And it is.
Wow, what a great little place.

They had six taps and a guest beer.
If you get within a couple hours of Stumptown you have to make this stop.