2022: The Year of Beer
With the Lowcountry’s craft beer scene more expansive and diverse than ever, we tap a keg of summer’s most hotly anticipated local brews. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
Raise a glass, casketeers. Summer has arrived. From old standbys like River Dog and Hilton Head Brewing to new kids on the block like Bluffton’s Lot 9 and the island’s Lincoln + South and Side Hustle, the options for a tasty locally crafted brew have never been more bountiful. And this craft cornucopia comes as summer demands a change from the thick, malty beers of fall to something a little more crisp, light and crushable. We pulled a pint with some of the area’s most celebrated brewmasters to see what’s in the keg for summer.
Hilton Head Brewing Co. If there’s anything bigger than this year’s summer lineup at Hilton Head Brewing Company, it’s the larger-than-life personality of brewmaster Bob Migliaccio. “I have a Belgian table beer that is absolutely devastating. It’s four percent. I’m 40
TASTEOFHILTONHEAD.COM
going to OD on this stuff,” he said with a laugh. Hopefully before that happens, he’ll get to see the release of the sours, goses, Vienna Lager and Dortmunder he has planned for the season. And of course, this summer will see the return of HHBC’s spectacular Mexican lager, “Nine Juan Juan.”
1 Cardinal Rd #13, Hilton Head, SC • www.hhbrewingco.com
River Dog Brewing Co. This year’s summer brews at River Dog Brewing Co. will run the gamut (and will certainly include the recently award-winning Cirque Du Solera wood aged sour), but head brewer Amelia Keefe says this summer’s brew of the season will be the Edisto Gold. Describing it, Keefe calls it, “an easy-drinking summer quencher brewed with local SC grain & Carolina Gold Rice. The base grain was grown and malted by SC’s first and only malthouse - Palmetto Malt.” Light, refreshing, and crushable is the order of the day.
591 Browns Cove Rd N suite h, Ridgeland, SC • riverdogbrewing.com
