The northern part of South Carolina is known as Upstate, while the areas around Charleston are called Low Country. Three of the remaining four breweries in South Carolina are Upstate, and the fourth is in Myrtle Beach, which is not really recognized as either, but probably wants to be part of both.
Thomas Creek Brewery, Greenville:
Founded in 1998, they make 8 beers. Their mottos are "Sink the Status Quo" and "Don't Be Typical." Slightly redundant, but maybe they are from Myrtle Beach and just couldn't figure out which one they liked best. They are distributed to 5 states in the Southeast. Their labels are simple which can be good or bad. I do like the "Up the Creek" Extreme IPA label. It's a guy in a kayak going through rapids, and he has just lost his paddle. He probably had one or two of those beers, which are 12.5% ABV, before he started kayaking. I was just reading on Daily Beer Review that Thomas Creek is now contract brewing a new Cuban Style Ale for Bacardi. It is called Cerveza Hatuey and Beer Drinker Rob over at DBR was at the first tasting so check his site out if you want to know more about it. It sounds like it's only going to be in South Florida for now, so if you are there and happen to see it, you'll know that it actually came from a microbrewery in SC.
RJ Rockers Brewing, Spartanburg:
"Handcrafted. Every beer. Every drop. Every time." They take this seriously, as they say that their owner is involved in every batch. I've just started to see RJ Rockers up here in PA. They don't list it on their site as a state they distribute to (CT, GA, OH, TN, DE, MD, NC, SC, VA, and DC are listed.) They might just be lagging a little behind on their website updating, although it's more likely that I'm breaking the news of a large scale, mob run, craft beer black market that is allowing us to enjoy RJ Rockers in the Keystone State. You heard it here first. They started as a brewpub in 1997 and became a full brewery in 2002. Similarly to the other breweries in SC, they are very environmentally conscious. They make upwards of 25,000 barrels a year of their 11 beers using water that is preheated by a solar energy system. So far I've had the Bell Ringer IPA and the Son of a Peach, which I was pleasantly surprised by. It didn't have an overwhelming amount of peach flavor and it was really smooth. They also have a Belgian Pale Ale called the Fish Paralyzer. I'll dig into the origins of the name, but in the meantime go enjoy a Rocker.
Skull Coast Ale Company, Fort Mill:
Another pirate themed brewery. "Drink Life Unfiltered" is their slogan and they have pretty cool labels. They don't have too much information, but what they did have intrigued me. The three beers they had listed sound pretty interesting. The Maelstrom IPA is made with seven different hops varieties. The Gallows Point Dead Man's Porter is made with real chocolate and macadamia nuts. But the one that I'm really interested to try is the Scallywag Extra Pale Ale. It's an almond pale ale made with real almonds. I've never had an almond beer, but I eat them every day. Hopefully my work will let me substitute a couple Scallywags in place of my usual 9:45 almond snack. They are distributed in bars and restaurants all over NC and SC.
New South Brewing, Myrtle Beach:
These guys were draft only from their inception as a brewery in 1998 until November of 2009 when they started canning their White Ale, which is an American/Belgian wheat. They say that canning is "more portable, better for the environment, and most importantly, better for the beer." They make six beers, none of which had a label posted on the website, most likely because they are only available on draft. They distribute to SC and NC. If you can't get their beer where you live, you can at least download one of the several desktop wallpapers that are available on their website. They have nothing to do with beer and don't have the brewery's logo or name on them. Slightly weird. Almost like their computer got a virus and they can't figure out how to get rid of that one part of their site.
Road Trips:
Like I said, I've only been to Myrtle Beach and to Charleston, so I don't have a whole wealth of experience to base my recommendations off of. However, if you are planning a trip to South Carolina and you like beer, you cannot miss out on Charleston. I'm sure that you can find beer from every SC brewery on tap at at least one of the many bars and restaurants downtown. From downtown you can walk to the East Bay neighborhood to see Rainbow Row and the park along the water, or go the other way and walk around the College of Charleston. There are plenty of choices for food in Charleston, but if you want a classy southern dinner, try Magnolia's.
On our way back north we drove through the Francis Marion National Forest. Think backwoods, and then double what you were thinking. That's half as backwoods as this stretch of South Carolina is. I don't know if it's in my blood to be intrigued with areas where it's quiet and calm, or if it's because I have always lived in really busy, congested areas, but I love driving through places like that and trying to put myself in the shoes of the people that live there. It is a nice drive. No traffic whatsoever. Plus, if you go this way, you can drive through Myrtle Beach.
Next week I'll talk about the one brewery in planning and follow up on a few things I've left open from the last two weeks. Hopefully I'll find out how Fish Paralyzer got it's name.
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