Holy City, the first South Carolina brewery to capitalize on the so-called Stone Law by opening a kitchen last year, is getting ready to expand that operation in February by adding a Charleston-area chef to the staff and expanding its kitchen space and menu options for visitors.
Charleston’s Holy City will be the first South Carolina brewery to capitalize on the so-called Stone Law when its new kitchen opens for business Wednesday afternoon.
Back in April, Westbrook and Evil Twin teamed up to present Meat Beer Fire, a gathering in Georgia complete with a bevy of cooked meets, specialty brews and … well, fire. (It’s kind of self-explanatory.) The event was designed to be showcase for heritage breeds of livestock and meat. Also, there was awesome beer. And fire.
This weekend, they’re bringing that celebration back to the Palmetto State. Westbrook is hosting a local version of MBF at the brewery this Saturday, Sept. 7, from noon to 5 p.m. All the meat comes from LJ Woods Farm in Sylvania, GA, and Bradley Taylor of Revival Foods will be cooking a whole hog as well.
On the brew tip, the latest release in Westbrook’s Bearded Farmer saison series will be available on draft and in bottles for the first time. This release, dubbed “Taylor” (as in Bradley Taylor), comes in at 6.5% and is brewed with rye, Tettanger and Pride of Ringwood hops and fermented with a blend of farmhouse saison and Brett yeasts. Other special brews will be on tap as well, including the re-release of Citrus Ninja Exchange. Both Citrus Ninja and Bearded Farmer will distributed next week.
More information about the event can be found here.
Expanding on their own turf isn’t the only kind of growth Thomas Creek will be experiencing in the near future.
A Thomas Creek Grill will soon be constructed part of expanded concession operations at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. The bar and grill will be located in the concourse area of the airport and likely offer a bevy of Thomas Creek brews, as well as other eats and drinks. An artist rendering of the future eatery was posted online Tuesday.
The grill should be operational within the next few months.
Let’s be honest: It’s more acceptable to start drinking a little earlier on the weekends. I’m not talking crack-of-dawn early, but there’s a little more leniency on mid-morning imbibing on Saturdays and Sundays. Whether you go with a widely accepted mimosa or a few brews at a tailgate, throwing back a few just feels better earlier on the weekends.
Holy City is taking that mindset to heart. Starting this Sunday, July 28, you’ll be able to enjoy some brews and eats as part of the now-regular beer brunch at the Charleston brewery.
Charleston’s Outta My Huevos food truck will set up outside the brewery beginning at noon and running until 4 p.m. You’ll be able to get grub from the truck and brews at the bar.
Come on, as if you had anything important to do Sundays?
After numerous delays, Charleston’s Craftsmen Kitchen & Tap House will finally open for business tonight.
Foodies and beer geeks alike have waited anxiously for the bar and restaurant to open its doors after about a year of delays. Friday afternoon, they got their wish as the following message was posted on Craftsmen’s social media accounts:
“Patient friends and fellow beer enthusiasts … we are happy to say we will officially open our doors TONIGHT at 5 p.m. Cheers!!”
Craftsmen will feature 48 craft beer taps divided among a variety of styles. Twelve of those taps will be dedicated solely to IPAs in the front bar, which has been dubbed the Pale Room. The remaining 36 taps will be located in the back dining room.
The food will also be tailored for different beers, at times incorporating beer into the recipe. The menu – which hasn’t been posted yet – will include bar food, entrees, soups, salads and more. The menu will switch up a bit on the weekends as well with some brunchy selections.
Craftsmen is located at 12 Cumberland St. in Charleston. If you plan on going tonight, chances are you won’t the be the only one there.
Beer on its own is usually good enough for me, and in some cases can be a meal in and of itself. But when it comes to picking out and preparing food to accentuate and compliment an already stellar brew, I jump at the chance to see what people come up with, especially if it’s one of the best restaurants in the city working with one of the best breweries in the state.
Last Tuesday, my wife and I headed to our usual haunt – Columbia’s World of Beer – for a pairing dinner prepared by the Motor Supply Co. Bistro, which is right down the road from the bar, and the always stellar Westbrook. It followed up an Allagash dinner the bar hosted last year.
Ed and Morgan Westbrook and Tim Peters walk diners though the menu.
Motor Supply is regarded as one of the best and most inventive restaurants in the city, with a different hand-written menu created for each meal each day. They’re much like Westbrook in the sense that they’re always switching things up, and whatever new product they put out is different from the last. It’s a seemingly perfect match, and that became even more apparent during the meal. Brewery owners Edward and Morgan Westbrook provided commentary throughout the night about the history of the particular beers and what went into brewing them, and Motor Supply Chef Tim Peters detailed why he created a particular dish and how he thought it complimented the beer it was paired with.
We started with the White Thai paired with Thai boiled peanuts. While I generally hate boiled peanuts – what kind of Southerner am I? – the sweetness and slight spice was a perfect complement to the rich yeasty sweetness from the beer. The second course was the Citra Rye Pale Ale and a vegetable samosa with mango puree and curry oil. Again, the hop bitterness of the beer worked well with the spicy curry flavors, and the big, juicy fruit flavors were made even bigger thanks to the mango.
From there we moved on to the always enjoyable IPA, which Tim paired with an open face duck wonton with tamari and a chili emulsion. The wonton was one of the best courses of the evening. Maybe because it was basically duck confit with cream cheese in a crispy shell, but the rich, fatty flavor was cut perfectly by one of the best IPAs in the state. That was followed by the main course: milk-fried pork belly with spiced sour kraut and apple demi glace. Having a gigantic plate of meat, potatoes and sour kraut dropped right in front of you is nice enough, but we were just as excited to have it with the Gratzer, a German-style smoked wheat beer and one of Westbrook’s more under-appreciated brews. The smokiness of the beer and the sweetness of the wheat melded perfectly with the big vinegar and sweet but tart apple flavors.
And then we got to dessert (in more ways than one). Tim brought out sweet roasted garlic covered in chocolate, sea salt and Basque pepper. It was interesting – the garlic wasn’t too garlic-y, and the salt and chocolate were good contrasts – but you could pair anything with Mexican Cake and it would be good. As I’ve said many times before, the beer is phenomenal, even with a year of age on it. And while the pepper heat is just barely there, it was brought out more by the pepper from the dessert.
Following the dinner, we had time to talk with Ed and Morgan about what they had in the works as well as the bombs they dropped throughout the evening. And, of course, we drank a few more beers, cracking open bottles of the Apple Brand Barrel-Aged Tripel, which has a wealth of smooth, sweet fruit flavors throughout, and the 100% Brett Lichtenhainer, a version of their smoked sour made richer and more flavorful thanks to the Brett. Two incredibly unique and enjoyable brews to cap off a night of equally enjoyable brews and foods.
TL;DR – Westbrook’s great, flavorful beers and Motor Supply’s inventive and unique dishes made for a perfect pair of like-minded artisans, with the results being delicious and quenching.
