WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Over the last decade, more breweries have popped up in South Carolina and the Columbia area. While these businesses may be popular with customers, local brewers say they are concerned for the future.
"We're really going to see some seismic shifts when it comes to who you're going to see survive and come through this and a lot of that is unfortunately we're going to have to have some legislation pass that's going to create an easier path because right now it's almost impossible to operate," Brandon Evans said.
Brandon Evans is the head brewer at Savage Craft Ale Works in West Columbia.
According to the Brewer's Association, there are 134 breweries in South Carolina as of 2022. Local brewers say that increase is also here in the Midlands.
"What we're seeing now is places that go into more desirable locations," Evans said. "It's the same thing that was happening in Charlotte and Asheville five, 10, 15 years ago. Most of those breweries went into giant warehouses, and now they're all building a second location, and they're putting it in a place where there's more foot traffic."
While breweries are expanding in the Midlands, some said state distribution laws still make business difficult.
"I just want to be able to sell it here in Columbia where we could just drive it to a neighbor; those kinds of things. Those would benefit us; just from then, it makes distribution plausible," Evans said.
Currently, in South Carolina, breweries are not allowed to sell beer directly to retailers; they must go through a distributor, and brewers say this decreases their profit.
"When you go out to a restaurant, and you pay $7 for a beer, the restaurant usually makes $3 or $4 off that beer; the distributor makes a dollar or two, and we make about 50 cents. So, we're usually the lowest man on the totem pole as far as revenue that we make through distribution," Evans said.
Scott Taylor, the assistant director of the Wine and Beverage Institute at the University of South Carolina, said there are more obstacles brewers face.
"We've seen, in the last year and a half or so, increases for ingredients for brewers. Hops got more expensive; grain got more expensive; we had an aluminum can shortage coming out of 2021. So, there's been a lot of expenses added to the breweries themselves," he said.
While brewers are worried about the future of their craft, they said consumers can help in a big way.
"Going directly to a brewery is the best way to support that brewery so that they don't close down because buying our beer in a grocery store gives us a fraction of what it would be if you walked in the door and picked up a four-pack on your way home," Evans said.
