Satisfy Your Thirst SC Tour – Columbia
Columbia was the next stop of our SYT SC tour. Columbia has fewer places on the app but they have a growing beverage community that will be as big as Charleston or Greenville very soon! Their up and coming beer scene is something the we are excited about!
OLD MILL BREW PUB
The SYT SC app led us to Lexington, SC to a distillery that was washed away last year from the horrible flooding from Hurricane Joaquin. We were so lucky to go there because we found a great pub nearby called Old Mill Brew Pub. It is an awesome micro brewery that made a few beers in house, but also carried an enormous local and regional beer selection.
Their master brewer Matt Rodgers, who calls himself, the “Beerded Farmer”, has the largest hops farm in SC. He has had it for 10 years and told us that he gives his hops to local brewers in SC, most times, for free. Matt will be opening his own brewery later this year and we can’t wait to go back to Columbia and try out his beer. This location was not on the app, but they create and support SC made beer. It was a perfect alternative and was very close to the distillery that had washed away. They even had some Moonshine from the distillery. We appreciated all of their hospitality.
RIVER RAT BREWING
The next stop on the Satisfy Your Thirst app was River Rat Brewing. River Rat Brewing got its name from the three rivers that run through Columbia, and “river rats” were the blue collar workers that work in the canal, over 100 years ago. In 2013, with those workers in mind, River Rat wanted to create a brewery that made “craft beers that would satisfy anyone after a long day’s work.” That’s exactly what they did.
They have some very delicious beer and we loved their story. We were allowed to tour the brewery to see behind the scenes as well. River Rat has a great outside area, and it’s really close to the University of South Carolina. There were a few students out back with their dogs. We loved this place and think that it’s a great stop if you’re ever In the area. Tour the brewery at info@riverratbrewing.com.
CONQUEST BREWING
A few miles down the street, we stumbled in to another craft brewery that was on the SYT SC app, called Conquest Brewing. Conquest Brewing is focused on making really great craft beer. If Game of Thrones had its own brewery; it would be Conquest. The names of all of the beer are “mid evil-ish”, and all of their taps are swords. So cool.
The evening that we went there, Conquest was having their weekly trivia night. It was very communal setting, the “brew tender”, named Wilson, was a classmate of ours and the host of trivia. He ordered pizza for everyone, and we had a few flights to sample. After everyone was fed, Wilson gave us tour around the back and got the chance to see the area where all of the brewery magic happens. It’s a cool place, that is owned by locals, drank by locals, and loved by locals. For more info on Conquest Brewing: www.conquestbrewing.com.
SOUTHERN SQUEEZED JUICERY
Before leaving Columbia, and after enjoying all the delicious beer, we had to find a juicery. We found one that was very close to our hotel called Southern Squeezed Juicery. Southern Squeezed is owned by a husband and wife team and located downtown. They were the first juicery in Columbia, and their mission is to “encourage a clean, healthy lifestyle by providing great tasting, nutrient-rich juices that nourish the body.” Their juice is amazing.
Katie, the owner, told us that they give all of their fruit and veggie pulp to farmers to feed their chickens; and the farmers give them fresh eggs to sell in the store. We love that type of community support. Check out more about Southern Squeezed Juicery at www.southernsqueezedjuicery.com
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