Brewing Up Business
Published Apr 24, 2008
Catawba Valley Brewing Co. beers are gaining popularity.
A decade ago, Catawba County brothers Billy and Scott Pyatt received a home-brewing beer kit for Christmas. Little did they know it would be the catalyst for their careers.
“We started brewing beer in our garage,” says Scott Pyatt. “It was a way for us to spend time together.”
It wasn’t long before friends began noticing that the brothers’ home-brewed beers were as good as or better than store-bought brands.
“People kept telling us, ‘Wow, you’re really good at this,’ ” Pyatt recalls with a chuckle. “We kind of got our egos inflated and decided to start selling it.”
The pair launched their own microbrewery, Catawba Valley Brewing Co., in 1999. Today, they make between seven and 10 different varieties of beer at a time at their Morgantown brewery.
“Some of our most popular ones are the Firewater IPA, the Brown Bear Ale and Farmer Ted’s Farmhouse Cream Ale,” Pyatt says.
The golden straw-colored Firewater IPA is made with five varieties of malts and six hop additions, while the Brown Bear Ale is a chocolate-colored English-style beer. Farmer Ted’s Farmhouse Cream Ale reflects the microbrewery’s vision of early American brewing and pays homage to the original Appalachian settlers who brewed with natural ingredients such as wheat, corn, American hops and free-range yeast.
Additional varieties include Honest Injun Stout, an ale produced with “100 percent malted barley, free range yeast and love,” as well as seasonal varieties such as King Don’s Pumpkin Ale, available in the fall. Another seasonal variety is King Coconut Porter, which is available in the spring and is infused with oven-roasted coconut. It has become known among customers as “the candy bar in a keg.”
Though Catawba Valley Brewing Co. sells primarily wholesale to bars and restaurants, the brothers also offer one-on-one service at their newly opened tasting room on South Green Street in Morgantown.
“It’s really different, because it’s close to 3,000 square feet of wide open, well-lit space,” Pyatt explains. “Our main goal is being fun and affordable.”
Visitors to the tasting room can sit at the bar and see all the equipment the Pyatts use to make the beer.
“It’s like you’re coming to watch me work, and you get to sit back and drink a beer at the same time,” Pyatt says.
The tasting room is currently open on Fridays only from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., but Pyatt says they plan to offer additional hours in the near future.
For more information, visit www.catawbavalleybrewingcompany.com.
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Staff Photo
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