Weekend Drinking Assignment: South Carolina Beers To Drink Right Now
Food Republic took an epic trip to South Carolina for the Charleston Wine & Food Festival last weekend. While wine flowed abundantly, we had to stop and take in some of the excellent local breweries, too. The heat of the south, combined with some awesome cuts of pork was enough for us to forget, albeit briefly, that winter is still sticking around in New York (it's a miserable 26 degrees as I write this).
Lately the focus has been on North Carolina, due to the opening of East Coast outputs of Oskar Blues and Sierra Nevada with several more in the works including New Belgium, Green Flash and possibly Stone Brewing Company. But in fact, there are quite a few notable breweries in South Carolina.
One of the best and biggest, Westbrook Brewing, made a lot of noise earlier this year with their excellent Mexican Cake Imperial Stout brewed with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and fresh habanero peppers). A little-known fact is that these brewers from Mt. Pleasant still brew many of Evil Twin Brewing's suds including their recent barrel-aged version of Imperial Biscotti Break. While the supply of both Mexican Cake and aged Imperial Biscotti Break has sadly long since kicked, we took the time to check out some other great local SC brews.
Westbrook Brewing Company: Gozu
This is a riff on a fine traditional German gose brewed with salt and coriander, but this one's spiked with yuzu (a fragrant Japanese citrus fruit). When I think of South Carolina, I think of Edward Hopper's painting South Carolina Morning. At a dainty 4%, this beer reminds me of the breeze in that painting — so refreshing. The funk of the original beer is replaced with lemon and citrus fruit, which means you need to give this a go even if the regular gose wasn't for you. I hope they can this beer, it really is that good.
Westbrook Brewing Company: Mr. Chipper
Another standout from the famed Charleston brewery, the sheer time put into Mr. Chipper might make it hard to track down, but I still encourage you to seek it out because of how uncommon it is to find a beer aged for this long. This Flanders red is aged for 2 1/2 years in red wine barrels, and though there's no fruit added during fermentation, it has hints of cherries, green apple and grape notes, plus caramel sweetness and oak. It's not overbearingly tart, but exhibits balance and poise.
Coast Brewery: Boy King Double IPA
Perhaps the best double IPA in SC, this boy packs a punch at 9.7% but it's nearly unnoticeable due to this beer's incredible balance. There's tons of citrus and tropical fruits both in the taste and smell from Citra hops, a bit of grass, pine, resin and enough malt presence to steady it out. A perfect beer for hop heads.
Palmetto Brewing Company: Espresso Porter
I've found that coffee keeps finding its way into huge stouts and porters but you see it less and less as an ingredient in the less-than-6% ABV range of brews. Palmetto's is great because it's both drinkable at 5.8% and flavorful with huge espresso flavor from nearby Charleston Coffee Roasters followed by chocolate and roasted malt flavor. It's brews like this that make me reach for the darker side, even on a sunny spring day.
RJ Rockers Brewing Company: Black Perle Dark IPA
Whether you call it a Cascadian Dark Ale, a Black IPA or an American Black Ale, this hoppy style combines the best of both worlds of roasted malt and big juicy hops. This one would fall into the double category at a huge 9.5%. Lots of chocolate, coffee and roasty notes but as it warms the hops flavors of pine and even citrus make their way to themselves known during finish.
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