Beertopia, your new go-to for everything craft beer in Morgantown, is located on Brockway Avenue right across from Pizza Hut.

Beertopia has lots of home brew equipment and accessories, as well as coolers full of craft beer and a large bar with local beer on tap.

We are a small family owned business.

Here at Beertopia, we love craft beer. We have a special appreciation for West Virginia breweries. We want to promote these hidden gems so that our fellow Mountaineers can enjoy them with us! 

Stop by and fill your growler, grab your favorite six pack, pick up a keg for your next gathering, or put together the brewing supplies for your own perfect brew.

We'd love to meet you and discuss your passion for craft beer.

I stopped by to check the place out and tried Big Timber's Frost Notch Winter Ale. This beer is pretty damn good. I could definitely see myself drinking a few more this winter. I also ended up having a Screech Owl Brewing Thrashing Wheat, which was also tasty. Love that they have a good variety of local beers on tap - and good taste in selection, too.

They also have a small selection of food available. Their standard bar fare includes a pepperoni roll, meat/cheese plate, hot sausage pepper dip & chips, hummus, baked cheese raviolis and sausage cheese balls.

So, we got an order of the sausage cheese balls - only because it was the strangest thing on the menu, and I was intrigued.

They weren't bad - not sure there's any cheese left, but it's little just a little ball of sausage. Pretty self explanatory here. But, I must say, these little greasy bites feel good on a belly full of beer.

This place is pretty sweet. If you haven't made your way out there yet, clear some time and take time to take it all in. Whether you're brewing or just enough a nice craft beverage, there's a little bit of something for everyone.

Grade: A

Yes, I went to The Back Door. Because I had a duty to do so. You see, Back Door has a happy hour buffet on Friday nights. And, I have it on good authority that the items are homemade (pizza and wings are from Casa D'Amici).

So, what the hell? I went on Friday after work. Back Door is in a funny location, because it doesn't have much curb appeal. You can walk through the back of Casa to get to it, or you can enter through the back side, which faces the parking lot. There's a sign over top, but not much else beyond that.

It's $5 to get in, and that gives you access to the buffet. They also had $2 Rolling Rock and $3 Corona. Meh, fine.

So, how was it? It was fine. They had a veggie platter, some pizza, burgers, wings, pasta, meatballs, and weenies & potatoes. I think it's a pretty decent deal for just $5, but 1) it's a buffet so the quality of food is mediocre and 2) I would not want to arrive at the buffet too late for fear of what it would look like after 100 hungry drunk patrons ran through it.

And as a fun aside: The Great 'A Taste of Memphis' Debate - Layne's friend decided this would be the perfect opportunity to question my grading of one of his favorite restaurants in Princeton. This is apparently six years of built up frustration that he was ready to unleash. This is nothing new to me, folks. Food gets people all riled up, and my silly thoughts on restaurants often make me a target. Anyway, I'm sure a few heads were turned, but it was all in good fun.

Overall - average. The food was pretty right down the middle. The pasta was fine, and the meatballs were tasty. Average for what it is, but a good deal for broke college kids.

Grade: C
 

I can't think of a much better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than at a whiskey tasting. Right? 

Pittsburgh's Wigle Whiskey (pronounced 'wiggle') does tours of both its distillery and barrelhouse. We bought tickets to tour the distillery, and while we were waiting, we were treated to a complimentary drink (I guess not complimentary because it's probably in the ticket price BUT). Score.

The sort of garage door space opened so there was a light breeze blowing through. A few different stations were set up for people who were doing just a tasting of the various whiskeys. It's a small, but pretty cool space.

I ordered the Rhubarb Party cocktail while we waited. It had ginger, rhubarb syrup, simple syrup, fresh lime juice, seltzer, rosemary lavender bitters and something else I'm probably forgetting - but this was phenomenal. Like, in the top drinks I've had in my life phenomenal.

The tour itself was a bit lackluster. Our tour guide was funny and poked fun, but I had to roll my eyes a few times with the West Virginia jokes and only men like whiskey jokes. Whatever. But, there wasn't a ton to the tour - we kinda walked around back and he constructed a story about how the company got started. There were a few samples along the way.

And as far as the actual whiskeys, I liked the wheat better than the rye, but I don't know that I've been properly schooled on how to taste whiskey. I think I might need to take another stab at this because once I learned how to taste bourbon, my experience on the bourbon trail was totally different. I should've taken some of that knowledge I had learned there, but the drinks started hitting me so I don't even know if it would have mattered.

And, to finish off the tour, we got to try these small chocolates. They were OK, but darker chocolate isn't my favorite. Overall, something fun to do on a Saturday afternoon. Prep your tastebuds for a good bit of whiskey and have fun.

Grade: B
 

The Triangle Pub that sat prominently next to Rite Aid and across from Family Dollar and Exxon in Westover has undergone a facelift. It is now home to Scorers Sports Bar & Restaurant, which, as you might guess, caters to a sports crowd.

The small building has a long bar that extends the length of the place, with a few high top tables placed throughout the rest of the space. Lots of light wood, black accents and flat-screen TVs hanging on the walls. It was clean and new feeling.

The menu features some fried appetizers, hot dogs, burgers and wings. Oh, and some alcoholic milkshakes. I ordered the Rodeo Burger, which our waitress said was the most popular. It is an "All-American burger topped with American cheese, bacon, Jack Daniel's Honey BBQ Sauce, and an onion ring.

And, a s'mores milkshake, which was spiked with vanilla vodka and creme de cocoa.

The burger was decent. The bun was buttered and griddled to perfection. Good sauce, good onion rings. The burger itself could've been a bit bigger, juicier - but still pretty decent overall. The onion rings were good. The milkshake - pretty strong, and considering I had places to be, I didn't finish it. But, this place is a decent option for a game and some grub. I don't usually catch myself on this side of town often, but it's a nice new place for those who do.

Grade: B

Out past the "other" Walmart on Grafton Road, there is a restaurant space. I first went there some five years ago when it housed "Big Kahunas." (Can we also just take a moment and lament Blogger couldn't recognize when photos were vertical or horizontal and just put them in any which way it thought was best? Sigh.) Big Kahunas and its Hawaiian-themed menu are no longer there, but a new restaurant has taken its space.

It is now Whitetail Crossing, which takes on more of a hunting theme as evidenced by the deer on the wall. I ran here during lunch one day to see what it's about. Plenty of parking here, and the outside looks a bit questionable. No windows or way to really see inside, so at first, I thought it was more of a gambling joint. Inside, there was a large dining space to the left - but the lights were out - and to the right was a bar area that had two other customers seated. I decided to sit at the bar. I noticed another dining space on the opposite side of the bar.

The menus had seen better days - pieces of paper that were stapled together with stains of various colors and sizes littering the pages. But, it's a comprehensive menu with pizza, burgers, chicken, sandwiches, wings, hot dogs and even a kids menu. I asked the bartender what the favorites were, and she said pizza or calzones, but they're huge. So, she suggested the wings and noted they also have boneless ones, even though they're not on the menu. She suggested the Hot Honey Hawaiian sauce, and I took her up on that.

The service was friendly, but entirely too slow. I waited for a half hour at noon to get my10 wings, with the only other patrons being the two at the bar - and they both ordered salads. And, she rang me up as a to-go order. I didn't ask for it, but I assume since Iw as by myself she assumed it was to-go. Which was fine, because after waiting that long for the food, I was ready to get back to work. And, I just spent $14 (with tip) for some wings. Meh.

So, once I got to work, I opened the box. It seems like they mixed a bottle of Frank's Red Hot and a can of pineapple chunks. There was no trace of honey. And the hot sauce really dominated the flavor. The pineapple bits didn't taste at all like pineapple - just hot sauce. I don't mind some heat - but as long as there is flavor to accompany it. There was no underlying of sweet or even depth of flavor here. The chunks of chicken were decent quality, but the sauce was not.

I think it's too expensive, I think the wait was way too long, and I think the food is average - at best. I think it joins a host of other restaurants in Morgantown under the "bar & grill" category that cater more to the bar, less to the grill, and it shows.

Grade: C

I've been hearing a lot more about The Frosted Mug lately, because they've bumped up their advertising, specials and even host team trivia now. Located off Greenbag Road, The Frosted Mug is a total dive bar that typically townies frequent.

But, guess what, after living here for 10 years, I think I'm pretty much a townie now. I convinced my friend Katie to join me for dinner here.

It's not much to look at from the outside, with dark windows outside beside a sign that says "bikers welcome. no colors." I was concerned for a second this was racist, but then realized it's just referring to biker clubs?

When we walked in, it was clear we don't know where to go or what to do, and all eyes were on us. Whatever. I'm used to this. We found a table that was free, and I walked up to the bar to ask for a menu. After some seats cleared out at the bar, we moved up there and placed our orders. Their "Mugwich" burger seems to be the special, so I ordered that - and a water. Which was probably super strange.

Side note: I invited my longtime Twitter friend Rose to join us (mostly because I solicited her advice about this place because I assume she knows all things bar-related or townie-related), so it was awesome to see her here!

After a little wait, my burger came out - stacked high and accompanied by fries. The bun on the burger was fluffy. Stellar. The burger - while decent on flavor - was just a bit dry. I think because it was so dense and cooked to well done that it dried it out a bit. It's a huge burger, though, and the fries were good.




Grade: B