Why does WV have such a weak beer selection compared to Ohio?

I lived in WV for 22 years. I just don't think there is a market for it.

 

Demographics of the state are not appealing for craft. It is just not worth going there for most brewers.

 

Agree on the demographic points. The population of Ohio is 11.5 million vs. 1.8 million for West Virginia. The general population density in Ohio is 4 times that of West Virginia. And Ohio has a lot of major cities for distributors to work in and out of.

Of course, I could also ask why Ohio has a better distribution than Western PA.

 

@raverjames

 

What? I live in Charleston and lived in VA 3 years ago. I did once live in WV, but haven't lived there since 2005. I hear it is pricey to register labels there, which probably hurts craft beer growth. When I first moved to SC, it was sort of a beer wasteland as well. Coast was only 1 year old at the time, and Ted's was pretty much my beer stop.

 

Well if you live in Charleston you must be from Charleston, WV. Isn't that the main Charleston in the southeast?

 

It's getting better all the time. I've lived here 24 years and been a craft enthusiast for most of that time. We've come a long way and I'm hopeful about the future. For now a lot of breweries probably figure if they have some border states covered why bother with WV...but I see that changing too.

 

Charleston, SC.... It's called the Google.

 

I was joking. Its an inside joke on the BA South-Atlantic forum. But thank you for the recommendation, I will check out this "Google" you speak of.