Great article on South Carolina's beer lovers. Some excerpts below.
Connoisseurs raise their mugs to new law allowing sale of exotic, high-alcohol brewskis
...
The new law means local beer enthusiasts no longer will have to cross the state line to legally purchase high-gravity craft beers distinguished by higher alcohol content. Before the bill’s passage, beers with an alcohol content of more than 5 percent couldn’t be sold in the Palmetto State.
...
This isn’t the beer for guys who just want to guzzle down a couple of ice-cold Buds after work. Craft beers are designed to be consumed in smaller quantities and savored like wine.
...
At Green’s Discount Beverages, the first couple of shipments of high-gravity beer quickly sold out.
“We’re getting them as fast as the wholeseller can get them to us,” said Green’s vice president Suzie Riga.
Green’s is building a specially lighted, climate-controlled cellar to store the beer. The store plans to eventually offer 500 different types of higher alcohol-content beer and be fully stocked by early July.
“People expect us to have it,” said Riga, who believes the new law can only help them generate new customers.
“We were losing so much business to Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. We’re excited to bring this beer to our customers so they don’t have to go out of state,” she said.
Not only can this state’s connoisseurs enjoy the newfound convenience, but visitors also will get the same choices they have in their home states. South Carolina was one of only four states that didn’t allow the sale of high-gravity beer. (Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia now are the only ones left.)
By NEIL WHITE - ntwhite@thestate.com
Read the entire article
