I've traveled to a bunch of breweries around the state, but they keep popping up more quickly than I can keep up with! That's a good problem to have, and I'm pleased with how West Virginia is moving forward and capitalizing on this industry.

Stumptown Ales in Davis is one of the more recent breweries to open. These hop-centric craft brews (as they state) pays homage to hops and brews with passion all while embracing the towns history in timbering.

So, hoppy beers. IPAs. Tripels. Sessions. Not exactly my cup of tea, but what the hell?

I ordered a Jack Frost Pale Ale, which was certainly hoppy but also had a lovely well-balanced taste. What goes better with a nice hoppy beer? Food.

They have just a special or two available each night, and on this night up for grabs was a plate full of nachos or a hummus/olive/pita platter. Lisa and I decided on the nachos.

While these were good, they were super heavy on the black beans. But bites of nacho and sips of beer can't go wrong.


Get yourself a pint, nosh on some snacks and take it all in.

The final stop in the Davis/Thomas area (this time) was at Siriannis, the local pizza joint. Joint may not be the right word, though, as when I think of that, I think of a hole in the wall with great pizza. But like most small restaurants in this area, it's hip and has some character.

Plus maybe my favorite door ever.

Since we spent our entire time in the towns eating, we just ordered a small pizza and split it between the two of us. I got mushrooms on my side.


A pretty good pizza overall. I was a fan of the sauce. Crust was a bit poofier - but that may because of the size we ordered. I'm used to more toward flat slices in Morgantown. Very tasty, though. A nice crisp on the bottom and tons of oozing cheese. Nice way to round out my short road trip and get a taste - literally - of the area.

Grade: A

I'm doing a story on Blackwater Brewing Company for Taste WV Magazine, so I was lucky enough to try some of their beer and food while there. You'll have to check that out for their awesome story and plans for the future.

The restaurant features a handful of beers and a weekly rotating menu during the weekends.

Let's start with the beer: They have some German-inspired beers due to the owner's brewing history. They have the Canaan Valley Kolsch, a 3200 Alt Bier, The Goldenrod Gold Ale, The Laurel Run EPA, and The Angus Macker Hardy County Sweet Oatmeal Stout. I had a taste of the Goldenrod Gold Ale and had to get a growlette of it to take back to Morgantown with me.

It's smooth and uses a local honey. How cool.

OK - food. He literally serves food only Friday-Sunday and it changes weekly. As far as a theme, he tries to play on seasons, and there's usually a soup or stew. He had a beef carbonnade, which is a Belgian beef dish with cubes of beef in a rich broth incorporates the Belgian blonde ale as the base. Hot and flavorful. With a side of beer bread.

Then there was a bratwurst that incorporated his Kolsch bier, served with homemade potato salad and sauerkraut. This potato salad was so delicious. It was warm and hearty. So loved it. The bratwurst was delicious and on a nice toasted bun.

My favorite, though, was this beautiful peperonata di patate soup, which had four types of peppers and potato. For one, it's beautiful. And two, it had this really deep, slightly spicy, slightly sweet soup with some potato for some substance. Just super good. Plus some nice buttered crostini.

So, if you go during the week, get a really good beer. If you're there on a weekend, choose one of his meals (there are only a couple options), but I know it'll be worth it.

Grade: A

The Davis-Thomas area has always been attractive to me. It's been out of the way from my main paths of travel, it's near Blackwater Falls, and it plays host to a a number of really cool local restaurants. It's one of those pockets in West Virginia that just has a really cool local culture - like Fayetteville or Lewisburg.

One restaurant I've been wanting to try is Hellbender Burritos. The name just sounds really cool - like they're super spicy or something. But, nope, they're actually named after a kind of salamander - also known as a snot otter -  I learned about at work. But they're native to the Davis area.

They opened at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and my interview for a story was at noon. So, we were there right at 11:30. We parked right along the main road (for free) and walked to the restaurant. It was the first time I saw snow this season, so I was super happen to see a nice fireplace in the front room. We walked down the steps into the next area where there was a man at the bar (and some folks at another table). He told us we could sit anywhere, so we chose the room closer to the fire to warm up.

The inside is cute and cozy. A server brought us menus fairly quickly. They have specialty burritos, including items named "Gendarme," "Treehugger" and "HooDoo VooDoo." I gravitated toward "The Hellbender," which is shrimp or chicken in a spicy garlic buffalo sauce, with rice and homemade bleu cheese dressing. I got the shrimp.

I think it was something about the homemade bleu cheese that did me in. That just sounded amazing. So when it came out, I instantly knew I would need a to-go box. They are giant burritos, served with a side of chips and slaw. Instead of using a fork, which I assumed would lead to a mess, I picked it up and dug in.

Full of rice and a creamy bleu cheese sauce, it packed just a slight heat and some fresh shrimp. Incredible. Flavors of garlic and smokiness are made all the better with the rich creaminess of the bleu cheese dressing and light shrimp. Even though chicken goes well with this flavor combo, the shrimp gave me something different. I dug it.

Chips and slaw were fine. That burrito, though, delicious.

Grade: A