Craft beer is big business. According to the national Brewers Association, it’s a $22.3 billion business here in the United States. Craft brew makes up 12.2 percent of national beer sales, with 3.9 million barrels coming from microbreweries and 1.2 million barrels from brewpubs reported in 2015.
This national trend is mirrored here in the Upstate with the growth largely due to House Bill 3512, aka the “Stone Bill,” signed into law in June 2014. The bill allows for breweries to sell food on the premises and brewpubs to enter into distribution.
The bill was named after California-based Stone Brewing Co. which had been looking at opening an East Coast operations facility that would “feature a full-production brewery, packaging and distribution operations with various administrative support which will serve to produce beer to be distributed in the Midwest to East Coast Boundaries as well as for export,” the company had said.
South Carolina officials heard the news and wanted to attract the brewing company, but Prohibition-era laws in the state would have prevented the company from serving food or patrons from consuming more than three pints of beer on site in a day. State officials fast-tracked the new Stone Bill through legislation in a quick few months. While Stone Brewing Co. ultimately decided to locate its East Coast facility in Richmond, Va., the new law paved the way for other breweries.
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DEFINED //
Microbrewery: A brewery that produces fewer than 15,000 barrels (17,600 hectoliters) of beer per year with 75 percent or more of its beer sold off-site.
Brewpub: A restaurant-brewery that sells 25 percent or more of its beer on site. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the restaurant and bar.
Source: Brewers Association
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4 new area breweries join a growing field
Here’s a look at some of the new and soon-to-be-open craft breweries in the Upstate. They’ll join veterans such as Thomas Creek Brewery, Brewery 85 and Quest Brewing Company in Greenville, RJ Rockers in Spartanburg, the Swamp Rabbit Brewery and Taproom in Travelers Rest and Blue Ridge Brewing Company set to open soon in its new digs in Greer.
The Casual Pint, Augusta Street. (Augusta Village Shopping Center), Greenville. Opening mid-2016.
Upstate Beer Garden Restaurant & Social Haus, Spartanburg
Pour Taproom, downtown Greenville
13 Stripes Brewery, Taylors Mill, Taylors. Opening summer 2016
Loose Reed Brewing Company, Augusta Street, Greenville. Opening late spring/early summer 2016
Carolina Bauerhaus Ales, Federal Street, Anderson
The Community Tap Trailside, Welborn Street, Greenville. Opening summer/fall 2016
The Growler Haus, Fountain Inn
Upstate Craft Beer Co., Augusta Street (formerly the Claussen Bakery), Greenville
BREWS on the Alley, Seneca
Good Times Brewing, Maxwell Avenue., Greenwood
Birds Fly South Ale Project, Greenville. Opening summer 2016
