It’s time for a little brews cruise through history. 🍻
With 10+ breweries in the Midlands (and growing), it’s hard to imagine a Columbia without them. But that used to be the case. In fact, just 23 years ago, Hunter Gatherer on S. Main St. was the sole brewhouse in Columbia. (Not counting the brewing saloons in the 1700-1900s.) Only 25 years ago, Palmetto Brewing Company was established in Charleston as S.C.’s very first modern brewery.

And can you believe that ~10 years ago, it was still illegal in our state to sell beers with a higher ABV% than Budweiser?

In fact, S.C.’s laws used to completely prohibit brewers from selling their product directly to consumers. It was pretty much against the law for breweries to do anything but brew.

Luckily, the legislature has been on beer’s side lately. In the past decade, S.C. has made a few crucial changes to those rules.

Not coincidentally, the number of breweries in S.C. grew from 11 in 2011 to 61 in 2017 (and currently, we have ~70 brewers in S.C.). The now-booming beer industry in our state contributed ~$650 million to S.C.’s economy in 2016 alone. I’ll cheers to that.

Photo by @runwanderwonder

2007: Lawmakers pass the Pop the Cap Law. Spearheaded in part by the future-owners of COAST Brewing Company in N. Charleston, this legislation increases the allowed amount of alcohol by weight in beer. In other words, lighter regulations = heavier beers.

2010: The Tour and Taste Bill was introduced, where a customer could get 4 sample glasses, totaling 16 oz (or one pint) at a brewery + take *one* case of beer home.

2013: The Pint Law passes. Visitors are allowed to taste up to 48 oz. (or three pints) of beer per visit (up from a previous limit of four taster glasses – equal to one pint).

2014: The Stone Law (meant to entice Stone Brewery from Ca. to open a brewery in S.C.) passes. Now, if a brewery offers food + has a DHEC certification (a.k.a. becomes a brewpub), the 48 oz. limit goes away and there is no serving limit beyond responsible serving restrictions.

2017: Gov. Henry Mcmaster signs the Nonprofit Bill into law, allowing breweries to donate their product to charity organizations to be served at nonprofit events. Brewers are also now allowed to participate in those events by pouring their product. A second law allows breweries to sell liquor, in addition to craft beer. By allowing liquor sales, breweries are now able to operate more like brewpubs, and vice versa. This change opened the door for places like Columbia Craft to begin distributing their beer.

You might be ready to raise your glass to South Carolina, but keep this in mind before you close your tab: S.C. still has the seventh-highest beer tax (a state excise tax of $0.77 per gallon) in the U.S. 💸 Plus, S.C.’s general sales tax of 6% also applies to the purchase of beer.

Anyways – I think we all deserve a beer now that we’re a little bit smarter.

McLovin Superbad .gif by giphy

—COLAtoday team