Mountain State Brewing

As true natives of West Virginia, it had long been stepbrothers Brian Arnett & Willie Lehman’s dream to bring quality, hand-crafted beer back to their home state. In October 2005 – founded on the basis of easy drinking, well-rounded session style ales – they did just that. Originally from Elkins and Helvetia, they were raised on what was around – light beer and homemade wine. Curiosity eventually got the best of them, and their first collaborative batch of home-brew was conceived in the early 90s using old brewing equipment, books and some ingredients handed down from their parents’ home brewing days in the 70s. The idea to open a distributing microbrewery in West Virginia was cultivated independently, and after teaming up founded Mountain State Brewing Co. in beautiful Thomas, WV. At over 3,000ft in elevation, Mountain State Brewing Co. sits at the top of the watershed, allowing beer to be brewed with the purest water possible. Starting with just a 3-barrel brew system, the brewhouse quickly needed to expand to more than double that capacity to meet increasing demand. Since then they’ve established one of the largest microbrewery distribution footprints in the state of West Virginia.