Centre Market Showcase – Wheeling Brewery

Centre Market is home to several locally owned shops, boutiques, and restaurants. Centre Market opened as an open-air market in 1853.  Back then it was just the North Market House which has since been enclosed with walls.

 

The Wheeling Brewery opened its doors in Centre Market in 2014 serving a variety of craft beers. “Wheeling Brewing Company was created out of a passion to lead in the revitalization of downtown Wheeling and to resurrect a rich history of micro-brewing in the area.” Which is why they chose their Centre Market Location; to bring more people to the downtown and Centre Market area.

 

A typical brewing day starts early at 5 or 5:30 in the morning. It begins with heating water, crushing grain, and going through the 8-hour brewing process of mashing, boiling, and cooling for fermentation. The day also includes a lot of cleaning from hand cleaning kegs to sterilizing the fermenters. Days are usually 12-16 hours long for brewers depending on what is needed that day.

 

Since their beer is hand crafted it is always changing. “Our beer is locally hand craft in small batches. 95% of our grain is grown within an 8-hour drive of Wheeling, and we brew an extremely wide variety of different beers, so you never quite know what special draft we might be pouring,” says Jimmy Schulte, Co-Founder of Wheeling Brewery. The brewery relies heavily on word-of-mouth advertising they want people to be so impressed they not only come back but also urge their friends to come. They are also active on Facebook and in going to events around the area.

 

The Wheeling Brewery strives to keep things local by partnering with multiple local businesses such as, Grow Ohio Valley, The Blended Homestead, Valley Cheese, and Carenbauer Distribution to source beer and food.

 

Wheeling Brewery will be in Huntington on August 11th for Rails & Ales Festival and at the Mountaineer Brewfest at the Wheeling Waterfront on August 8th.  Check them out at these locations or their Centre Market pub.