A local up-and-coming native brewer came back to Huntington Monday to share his love of beer with other enthusiasts.

Frank Moeller, owner and brewmaster of Flying Mouse Brewery in Troutville, Virginia, came back to his hometown of Huntington to visit Black Sheep Burritos and Brews and present his brewery’s selection of craft beer. The event, Flying Mouse Brewery: Meet the Brewer, was a meet and greet that gave patrons a chance to chat with Moeller about brewing and enjoying craft beer.

Moeller said Flying Mouse Brewery focused on creating a beer people could enjoy as part of an active lifestyle.

“We try to brand ourselves as an anti-couch potato beer,” Moeller said. “Our brewery is located about a half-mile from the Appalachian Trail and a nearby bike route. We get a lot of hikers and a lot of other very active people in our brewery.”

Moeller said he began brewing beer as a hobby in 1995.

“I started home brewing in 1995,” Moeller said. “I started in my kitchen with a big pot on the stove and one of those brewing kits you get from a catalog.”

Flying Mouse craft beers are given numerical names that correspond with the color of the brew—the lower the number, the lighter the beer; the higher the number, the darker the beer. Duran said Flying Mouse does this for efficiency and to make the beer less intimidating for people.

Black Sheep carries four of Flying Mouse Brewery’s beers: Flying Mouse Three, Four, Five and Eight. To celebrate the event, Moeller added a fifth beer to Black Sheep’s menu. Flying Mouse Autumn, a traditional brown ale with a biscuit-like malt character, is now available at Black Sheep.

The brewery’s website provides a descriptive list of its varied selection of craft beer. Flying Mouse Three is a golden, fresh and delicious ale with a slightly sweet flavor and is built from a Kolsch-style foundation. Flying Mouse Four is crafted from an India Pale Ale foundation; it is bright and sunny and features herbal and floral notes with a combination of several hops. Flying

Mouse Five has a defined malt character with a hop flavor and finish. Flying Mouse Eight is a dark beer crafted from a Porter foundation and features a modest hop bitterness, but without the heaviness of a typical dark beer.

Alex Durand, craft beer specialist at Black Sheep, said Flying Mouse’s method of naming their brews provides a less intimidating perspective of certain beers.

“A lot of people get put off by the name of beers like porters or stouts,” Durand said. “So the Eight, one of Flying Mouse’s darkest beers, doesn’t have that intimidating image of a porter or stout.”

Moeller said Flying Mouse Brewery currently sells beer in all of West Virginia and certain regions of Virginia. He also said Black Sheep is one of the several establishments in the area to carry Flying Mouse Brewery’s line-up of brews.

Anthony Davis can be contacted at [email protected].