Monday 1st of July 2013 07:30:28 PM

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The North End Tavern is a stand alone two-story brown wooden building with a dedicated parking lot. Basement windows allow you to see into the brewhouse with its stainless steel vessels. Enter the red door on the main level for the bar room, with its comfortable 10 chair bar. The bar room has several tables and booths and exits to an enclosed patio room. There is also a connected room with more dining tables and windows that looks down onto stainless steel brewing vessels. They offer 8 house brews on tap, which I suggest trying on a sampler flight. Overall their beers are varied and flavorful, but are not all professionally refined. Their Red Ale and IPA (8.0% abv) were both good, and my favorite was their strong (11.5%) Harvest Ale. Their Golden Ale, Wheat, Pale Ale, and Porter were just average. The food menu consists of simple pub fare, appetizers, and sandwiches. The staff is warm and friendly, and the atmosphere is relaxed and social. The NET is a decent place for socializing over local craft beer.

Tuesday 24th of August 2010 10:19:43 PM

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One of the many things that separates the bizarro world of West Virgnia from the modern First World across the Ohio River or Appalachian ridge is the way their bars are set up. I was really thrown off by this the first time I went into Weirton (what a horrible town that is) on my way to Pittsburgh and I encountered a lot "cafes" when looking for lunch. This is West Virginia codespeak for bar. West Virginia bars are also apparently favorites of compulsive gambling vampires because they all seem to be extremely dark inside and all seem to have slot machines.
In coming here, I kind of had an idea of what to expect, especially since this is, apparently, one of only a couple of places in the state that brews their own beer.
Sure enough, this place is really, really dark inside. When I opened the door, I think I heard a hiss and saw a bat fly off into the shadows. My fault completely though, since it was pretty sunny outside.
I sat at the bar, which is a long, old, somewhat dirty wooden monster that spans the length of the place and ends at the quintessential "game room." I got a water and a food menu and asked about the sampler. They do have one with all their beers, so I ordered that.
Pretty good food menu with some interesting stuff. I ordered a roast beef sandwich with hot mustard and horseradish, which was priced at something like $5.
The bartender went to pour the beers and came back with a big set of dixie cups. Classy! It's sad too, because the only other place I've encountered was also in the Ohio Valley, although they only did it with one or two because they ran out of shot glasses. So I made sure not to slurp my horseradish or hot mustard (which were in the same dixie cups) and polished off their sampler.
They had a lot of wheats and, on their chalkboard, I was surprised by a lot of their percentages. The IPA was said to be at about 9%, as I recall, although it certainly didn't taste like it. They also said their porter was at 7%, I think, but that couldn't have been right.
The taste: kind of all the same. It was strange. Nothing stood out but nothing really disgusted me. The dixie cup thing really threw me off initially, and I think that kind of affected the experience. Also, regarding the food, that hot mustard is not f'in around. I let some of it hit the back of my throat and I started seeing a bright light (or maybe someone opened the door). So that also probably changed my perceptions a bit.
But the food was actually pretty good. The bread was really good, it wasn't just supermarket deli roast beef and, like I said, that hot mustard was something else. I asked the bartender and she said "Yeah, we make that ourselves in the back." Maybe the vampires make that hot mustard from hell because that would be only too fitting.
Overall, it was an okay place, I just wasn't huge on the beers. I got a weird vibe in there like I was being watched by the few people in the place. But I got that a lot when I was in West Virginia. Just something excessively creepy around every corner there, it seems.
The really funny part about the place was my bill: with tax it came out to something like $6.75. So either the sampler costs about $0.50 or there is a huge tax in that area, because my sandwich was $5 (although I could have been charged for that side of pure evil that I requested).

Sunday 19th of July 2009 07:18:57 PM

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This place is a nice little find in Parkersburg, very easy to get to off a main road. There is plenty of parking. The bar is a very old tavern type bar dating back to 1899. Has a very friendly local feel to it. The bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable.

Overall they had a nice selection of beers, IPA, pale ale, red, porter, sour porter, stout. Each beer was very drinkable and would definitely drink again.

Saturday 9th of August 2008 03:46:24 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

My friends and I usually try to go to this brew pub on our way back from Marietta Brewing Company which is just across the river.
These guys are great; Die hard Marshall Fans in the heart of WVU territory. They have always been supportive of local beer clubs and related events.
The food is worth the trip. If you stop here and don't get a "NET" burger you're missing out; one of the best burgers around. The sausage and cheese trays are huge.
Usually four to six craft beers on tap. The flagship style is a red they call Roedy's Red.
The brewers are usually there for the nickel tour, but if not, the fermenters are easily viewable from the observation windows off the main bar area.
The atmosphere is more of a bar than eatery, dimly lit, etc. Friendly staff is always available to top off that empty pint. Lottery slot machines available off to the right of the bar; maybe you can win enough to cover your tab.