Peggy and Herb Donivan run the craft brewery out of their home in Axton. Nowadays, they boast 35 rotating brews, live music, food trucks, and an outdoor space.
“It’s not your typical warehouse brewery,” Peggy shared. “Most people say it’s like having a beer with their mom and dad on the porch.”
The seeds for the business were planted when a friend gave the Donivans, then hobbyist homebrewers, some hop rhizomes. “They said, ‘well, you have ten acres, so why don’t you plant these?” Peggy said. “So we planted them, we’re like, ‘this is cool.’ So we decided to take our little hop garden and make it into a much larger hop garden.”
The Donivans’ garden soon began to attract curious passersby.
“They [hops] are actually not a normal crop in this part of Virginia. So we actually became a little mini egress tourist site just with the hopyard,” said Peggy. “But then people came by and said, ‘Well, you brew. Can we try some beer?’”
Though unable to sell their beer legally, the couple was happy to let visitors taste their homebrews. With a continuous stream of positive feedback from tourists, they decided it was time to scale up their home operation.
Mountain Valley Brewing opened in April 2016 in “a little shack” with eight chairs and six beers on tap, according to Peggy. By July, they had already outgrown the little tasting room and added a spacious deck to fit more customers. By 2021, they had added a pole barn, a second deck, and a beer garden to accommodate more people. “We’ve just kind of grown organically as we need to, to where we are right now,” Peggy said, “and we’re always looking for opportunities for growth.”
Today, the brewery has evolved into a bona fide local hotspot. During the week, they host events like trivia nights and potlucks attended mostly by locals.
“Our locals are the backbone for us,” said Peggy. “We have a core group that have been with us since we opened. They’re family. They keep us in business during the slowtimes, during the week.”
On the weekends, the brewery transforms into a bustling music venue. This is when they meet most of their new and out-of-town customers, according to Peggy. “We do a lot of live music events here so we’re kind of transitioning more into a live music venue-slash-brewery,” she said.
Mountain Valley Brewing is leaning into live music with plans to build a permanent outdoor stage and to host a music festival in June with twenty bands. They’ve opened up to a rotating cast of local artists and occasionally nationally touring bands.
They’re also forging partnerships with other local breweries on a project called the Southern Virginia Beer Trail. “In the brewing industry, I honestly think the more the better. We would love to see some additional breweries in the counties surrounding us because breweries bring people to the area,” said Peggy.
“The brew trail is something new. It’s six breweries, and we do work closely together,” she continued. “We will help each other out at the drop of a hat. There’s competition, but there really isn’t – we’re all really good friends.”
