One of the real pleasures of all my trips to the US over the last few years, both for work and pleasure, has been the variety of beers that I’ve been able to try. It used to be that American beer was Budweiser or another equally bland lager, but nowadays there is a huge variety of ales, from the national through the regional to the ultra-local. The US Brewers’ Association counts more than 4,000 breweries in the country, close to the record high of 4,131 in 1873. That’s quite a renaissance from a nadir of 79 breweries in the year I was born.
It’s going to take me quite a while to sample the brews of all 4,000: this is rather a long-term goal! Meanwhile, I am doing my best to try all the local Charleston beers, so here is a little review about a few of them. I wouldn’t say I am a beer connoisseur, but I have certainly drunk enough of it to know what I like.
Westbrook IPA
This is the nearest brewery to us, under 2 miles as the crow flies. They have photos of the staff on their website: a lot of them have beards. I think it might be a craft beer thing. The IPA is strong, at 6.8%, and it whacks you around the face with hops. This brings up an issue that I have with a lot of craft beer: sometimes the brewers just bung in so many hops that you can’t really taste much else. (I’m not the only person to think this, see this article in Slate magazine.) With the hops and the strength, I can’t drink too much of this beer. I like it, but it’s not one to drink all night.
Holy City “Overly Friendly” IPA
Ye gods, this one is even stronger – 6.9%. You can’t drink much of this and drive home. I suspect US craft brewers are large shareholders in Uber. The taste is more mellow than the Westbrook, but there’s still a bit hoppy kick and the brewers even note that if you aren’t used to hops,”this might be too much”. The “Overly Friendly” moniker comes from Charleston’s reputation as one of the friendliest places in the US. And Holy City Brewing Company: that’s a damn cool name for a business. (Perhaps it’s also the name of the Pope’s home-brews?)
Palmetto Pale Ale
I love this. Look at the label – it’s got palm trees and everything. It’s actually also a rather nice drink. The strength is only (!) 5.8%, and there are plenty of citrusy notes without too much of a hoppy bitterness. It’s probably my favourite of the three and certainly the one that I could drink for longest without keeling over.
You can visit the breweries and I plan to visit all three of them, for research purposes of course, and I hope to write about them at some point.
I love trying the Low Country’s local brews and they certainly suit the location. But for now, none of them can compete with My Favourite Beer In All The World…
South of the Mason-Dixon line 