Front Burner: Parkway Brewing Co. opening soon
Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times
On a recent weekday at Parkway Brewing Co. in Salem, only me and a few employees rattled around inside the yawning industrial building.
As I talked to brew master Ryan Worthington, company founder Mike “Keno” Snyder was busy scooting one of six picnic tables in the warehouse space into a diagonal position.
“I don’t like them all in a straight line,” he said. “It reminds me of a school cafeteria.”
That’s Keno for you, his friends say — always thinking and never walking a boring straight line.
As they prepare to open the brewery in a few weeks, life is about to take an interesting turn for Snyder and his wife, Lezlie. It is a diversion born of a love of good beer, a fascination with the brewing process and a firm belief that craft brewing is a sound investment right now.
There is strong evidence to support that belief. According to the Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade association based in Boulder, Colo., the craft beer industry grew 13 percent by volume and 15 percent in retail sales in 2011. Alcohol sales in general — including wine, beer and spirits — have continued to climb despite the recent recession, presumably because people like to drink as much — if not more — when they are bummed out than they drink when they are happy.
The caveat is that craft beer enthusiasts have to like the product. Judging by what I’ve seen and tasted at Parkway Brewing Co., that’s not likely to be a problem.
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What do you think about southwest Virginia’s craft beer scene so far? Are you looking forward to tasting Parkway’s beer?
January 16, 2013 - 9:47 AM
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Roanoke is certainly well on it’s way to a great craft beer culture similar to the likes of Raleigh/Durham and several other driveable locations that have a great beer scene. I couldn’t be happier! Looking forward to Keno giving us a nice wheat beer in the future.
Sure they are…been hearing that since last september.What’s the hold up?? Ran out of “investor” money already??
Good luck to everyone involved with the business. Success couldn’t come to a niceer group of folks. Nice comment james…real nice.
I think that “we” are getting there! This will be the third microbrewery, and Roanoke has at least four restaurants/bars w/ double digit taps. A year ago, to the best of my knowledge, we had one, Blue 5. Now, in addition to that, we have 1906 Ale House, Wasena Taproom, and Beamer’s 25. And I realize that there could be others that I don’t know about. Anyway, all the changes are positive! We had one beer festival, Roanoke’s Microfestivus, which is awesome by the way! Now we have Salem’s Beertopia, and B-Burg’s Brew-Do, both of which are also good! So as I started out saying, we’re getting there! And yes, I’m VERY excited to try Parkway’s beer at the brewery when they open!
It’s now mid-feb is it open yet? Any news?????
It’s been open for weeks, James. Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Give it a shot. The facility is impressive.