South Carolina Beer Scouts

The beer scouts opted out on the artificial green beer this Saint Patrick’s Day and instead took a virtual trip to an Irish pub with another blind tasting of four unknown authentic Irish style brews! While trying to guess the provenance of our murky and mysterious pints, the beer scouts also discuss the politically incorrect history of beer icon Arthur Guinness, the difference between carbonation and nitrogenation in beer, and whether “nitrogenated” is even a word (news flash: Wiktionary says yes). Listen in to hear all that and more, and stop reading now if you want to keep the suspense before we reveal our mystery beers as we go!

*SPOILER ALERT*

Featuring: Guinness Draught Stout, Breckenridge Brewery’s Nitro Irish Stout, The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout, and Murphy’s Irish Stout.

Intro/Outro Music Credits: "The Rocky Road to Dublin" by The Dubliners

Instead of making yet another trip to the Upstate, this time the beer scouts are keeping it local to the Columbia area for this latest brewery profile episode featuring Steel Hands Brewing of Cayce, SC! Newly opened in December 2018, Steel Hands is currently the newest and biggest brewery in the Midlands, and is already canning and distributing three of their signature brews across the state! In addition to critiquing Steel Hands’ flagship golden ale, coffee-infused lager, and tropical IPA, the beer scouts offer their recap of the recent Colatown Beer Wars IPA taste-off and share their personal favorite beer wars contender, Southern Barrel’s Damn Yankee New England IPA. Featuring: Steel Hands’ Foreman Golden Ale, Coffee Lager, and Tropical IPA, along with Southern Barrel Brewing Company’s Damn Yankee New England-Style IPA.

The beer scouts are kicking off 2019 with an introduction to one of the more obscure and exotic of traditional German beer styles – smoked lager, or “rauchbier.” Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to travel all the way to Bavaria to find delicious locally-brewed rauchbier, as Bierkeller Columbia (of Columbia, SC) has been serving steins of their fantastic rauchbier at pop-up biergartens around the state capital since 2015! For this episode, we decided to let Bierkeller’s rauchbier go frothy head-to-head against the world famous Aecht Schenkerla Rauchbier, considered by many to be the definitive rendition of the style. We also picked up a krowler of Bierkeller’s rustic Kellerbier lager to wash down all this smoky goodness and keep our palates fresh! Featuring: Bierkeller Columbia’s Rauchbier and Kellerbier, Aecht Schenkerla Marzen Rauchbier, and Zwonitzer Rauchbier.

The beer scouts have the scoop on yet another new local craft brewery in the works, and this time it’s Keowee Brewing Company of Seneca, SC, which is on track to open in Spring 2019! We are honored and excited to be able to offer a preview of four excellent beers shared with us by Keowee Brewing Company’s brewmaster. In addition to discussing the Upstate’s soon-to-be newest brewing operation, the beer scouts question whether the shaker pint glass should be cast out from taprooms, and whether Michael will be drawn to the dark side by Keowee Brewing Company’s phenomenal porter and imperial stout and betray his love of all things IPA? And for the record, Lake Keowee is not a literal lake of beer, although we look forward to Keowee Brewing Company using their brewing magic to turn the fresh water from the lake into more delicious beer! Featuring the following beer styles brewed by Keowee Brewing Company: Kölsch, single-hopped New England-style IPA, Porter, and Imperial Stout.

The beer scouts return to the Upstate to feature Jocassee Valley Brewing Company, one of the newest breweries in South Carolina, and for the moment, the only operating brewery in Oconee County! Jocassee Valley (also known as “JVBC” for short) just opened their taproom doors for business in May 2018, and offers an impressive selection of delicious craft beer paired with live music and tasty food trucks, all at a family-friendly venue in the scenic foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As a bonus, Eric also picked up some cans of an outstanding amber lager from Arches Brewing, a lager-centric microbrewery from the south side of Atlanta. Along with discussing the virtues of half-pints and craft-brewed kombucha, Justin also gives us a lesson on the chemistry behind prison hooch (which for the record was not acquired through personal experience). Featuring: JVBC’s Amongst the Beers Red IPA, JVBC’s Lydie Mountain After Dark Black IPA, and Arches Brewing’s Southside Lager.

In this episode, the beer scouts are pleased to feature two of South Carolina’s finest local light lagers, specifically from the Midlands’ Columbia Craft Brewing Company and the Lowcountry’s Oak Road Brewery. Additionally, thanks to Eric’s recent scouting expedition to the Caribbean, the scouts had the exclusive opportunity to present a taste-off of the Bahamas’ two competing national lager brands, Kalik and Sands. For all the beer drinkers that just want something light, crisp, and refreshing to sip on while relaxing on your front porch joggle board or on a lounge chair at the beach, this episode is for you! Featuring: Columbia Craft Lager, Oak Road Joggling Board Lager, Kalik Lager, Bahamian Sands Beer, and Bahamian Sands Light.

For this brewery profile episode, the beer scouts were privileged with the opportunity to record on location with one of the brewers at Golden Grove Farm & Brew, a fully operational farm and brewery complete with a disc golf course! Along with getting a quick lesson on hop growing and an overview of the colorful history of the property, we sampled several offerings from Golden Grove’s line-up of deliciously fresh beers, many of which feature hops grown right on the farm! Drinking local doesn’t get more real than that! Featuring: Golden Grove’s Long Black Ale, The Real Cheese West Coast IPA, Gov’t Cheese East Coast IPA, Anything Gose, and more!

The beer scouts have never claimed to be certified Cicerones, but in this episode they attempt to prove their aficionado credentials by sampling a line up of mystery beers in a blind tasting and giving their best shot at guessing the surprise identity of four specially selected local brews. While trying to use all their sensory powers to identify the beers at hand, the beer scouts also consider the rise of the crowler, what many consider the latest and greatest way to bring beer home from your local taproom! Listen in and stop reading now if you want to keep the suspense before we reveal our mystery beers as we go!

*SPOILER ALERT*

Featuring: Sweetwater’s Twisted Fish Crystal Pilsner, Highland’s Oatmeal Porter, Coast’s 32/50 Kölsch, and Low Tide Brewing’s Tura’Lu Irish Red Ale.

The beer scouts are excited to kick off another season by featuring some local examples of one of the only classic beer styles to originate in the USA – cream ale! Fortunately you don’t have to look too far here in South Carolina to find some great renditions of this relatively obscure style, courtesy of Charleston’s Revelry Brewing Company and North Carolina’s Catawba Brewing Company. And since you can’t talk about cream ale without talking about the classic “Genny Cream” from Rochester, NY, Eric brought down some leftovers to share from his family’s July 4th festivities up in Pennsylvania. As a bonus, Michael graciously shared with us one of his recent wedding gifts: a can of Heady Topper Double IPA, one of Vermont’s highest rated brews! Featuring: Genesee Cream Ale, Revelry's Gullah Cream Ale, Catawba’s Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale, and The Alchemist’s Heady Topper Double IPA.

Dr. Dom has returned from Florida with more craft brews from The Sunshine State! Additionally, Darren Monroe of the Bottom of the Barrel Bourbon Podcast joins us to provide his expert commentary on the world of bourbon whiskey and the growing crossover between barrel-aged spirits and barrel-aged beers! As a bonus, we brought some local (and legal) moonshine to toast to South Carolina’s ever more diversifying craft alcoholic beverage industry! Featuring: Hollow Creek Distillery’s Honey Moonshine, Swamp Head Brewery’s Midnight Oil Oatmeal Coffee Stout, Heaven Hill’s Bottled-in-Bond Old Style Bourbon, and the Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (2017 Vintage).