Old School Brewing Co opens in White Sulphur today
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
There’s a new brewery in White Sulphur, and it’s old school.
“We’re excited to be getting back in here,” says Austin Ramsey, General Manager of Old School Brewing Co. “Good music, great beer, and good food. That’s the three keys to make this work.”
This will be the third brewery in the same White Sulphur space in the last few years, with one of the owners of The Schoolhouse Hotel now backing the business.
Niko Winstral, part owner of Old School Brewing Co and part owner at The Schoolhouse Hotel, cut the ribbon along with Mayor Thomas Taylor on Wednesday afternoon. Addressing the crowd, she said, “My heart’s in this place. Austin told me about his vision when we took over the Schoolhouse. Now the vision is coming to fruition. We’ll do live music, weddings, private events, community events. The excitement is overwhelming.”
Winstral and her husband live in Connecticut and make the 8-hour drive to White Sulphur regularly. Being part of the local community in which they are investing is important to them.
“I know people have been looking forward to this for a long time,” she says of the brewery’s reopening. “We want to make White Sulphur the place to visit.”
City Recorder Dave Dillon was bubbling with excitement at the ribbon cutting, saying, “I am more excited than you know. It’s the heart of the city.”
Remarking that the town needs some enlivenment, Dillon said, “Good food, good drink, good entertainment. What more could the city want?”
After a soft opening yesterday, the grand opening is today. Over the next three weeks, Old School Brewing will slowly expand their hours and menu.
“You’ll see a lot of the old favorites, like the flatbreads and burgers,” Ramsey shared. “We’ll start with pretzels, nachos, and sandwiches this week. We’ll also add new things people will really like.”
Beyond the menus, Ramsey said, “We want to make this a good thing for the town. Bring back that community vibe. This was the hub for the whole town before.”
To that end, Old School plans to amp up their live music offerings. In addition to hosting local and regional bands, they plan to host ticketed events for touring artists.
“We eventually want to become the premier music destination for southern West Virginia,” Ramsey says. “We’ve got great friends in the music industry who will be able to help us with that.”
Old School Brewing Co is located in downtown White Sulphur Springs on Main Street. They open Wednesday at 3pm. For more info, visit them on social media.
