Columbia is set to become the home to another craft brewery in the form of River Rat Brewery, a brewery in planning that is close to nailing down a location and has already landed a brewmaster with a pedigree.

The brewery apparently went into the formal planning stages earlier this year. But on Wednesday, they got a little more wind in their sails after announcing 18-year brewing veteran and former Abita head brewer Mark Walters had signed on to be their brewmaster.

While a more formal announcement from River Rat will be happening soon, here’s what I can gather from their social media accounts: They’re close to closing a deal on a location for the brewery, but as we saw with Conquest, getting your business license, operating permits, DHEC approval and so on takes more time than you’d think. As far as beers, They’ve got a 4.5% Breakfast Stout, a 9% Double IPA and something called Sour Cherry Sucker Punch, also at 9%.

I’m looking to get together with the folks behind River Rat and get some more information about their future plans. Keep an eye out for that soon.