COAST, Palmetto celebrate Pint Law passage with Pint Pedal

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Charleston’s COAST and Palmetto breweries are teaming up to celebrate beer, bikes and South Carolina’s recently passed Pint Law with the inaugural Pint Pedal celebration.

The coastal breweries are teaming up for an event that merges a bike parade with the joy of being able to finally enjoy pints at SC breweries. Starting at the Palmetto brewery, riders will take a police-escorted bike over to COAST, where there will be music, food trucks and – of course – plenty of beer to enjoy. After some time there, riders will head back to Palmetto to wrap up the festivities.

Round-trip, it’s about 10 miles, but the route is an easy one. Trek Bicycle Store will be on hand to help tune up bikes if need be. Registration is required and will be capped at 125 riders. The fee of $5, which will go to support the Fat Tire Freaks bicycle club.

For more details and to register, click here.

Pint Bill signed into law

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As they say, it’s a great day in South Carolina.

Thursday afternoon, SC Gov. Nikki Haley put pen to paper and officially signed the state’s Pint Bill, immediately putting into effect the Pint Law. Starting right now, every brewery in South Carolina can begin serving up to 48 ounces to an individual.

COAST wasted no time in indicating they’re ready to begin serving pints during tours tonight, tweeting out this photo of lines of branded pint glasses. And Conquest announced opening hours for its tasting room late Wednesday, also indicating that when they law went into effect, they’d immediately being serving pints.

Be sure to find your local brewery’s tasting room hours, get out there and drink up!

 

Pint Bill to become law within days

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One way or another, by this time next week, you’ll be able to walk into a South Carolina craft brewery and order a pint of beer.

Late Tuesday, it was announced that the legislation allowing up to 48 ounces of beer to be served to an individual at a brewery had been ratified and was on the way to being signed by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley. Following that, one of two things will happen: 1) The governor will sign the bill, at which point it immediately becomes law and the changes go into effect, or 2) if she doesn’t sign it, it automatically becomes law in five days.

Haley has said she will sign the bill, and there is no fear of a veto.

While brewery employees will still have to undergo safety training and breweries will still have to purchase insurance, there is a grace period inherent with the bill and breweries can immediately begin serving pints as soon as the law goes into effect.

Holy City expands tap system at brewery

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I’m going to eschew the typical “yo dawg” jokes and just sticks with the facts: Holy City is about to put a lot more beer in your mouth.

On Friday, the brewery unveiled its brand new tap system, which has been expanded from five tap lines to 20. There were 17 different Holy City brews pouring to kick off the long weekend. This will be a welcomed change to people who love Holy City’s brews but always wished there were more than a handful on tap for samples.

In addition to tasting room staples – Pluff Mud Porter, HC Pilsner – there were a lot of unique and rare offerings, including three different versions of Pluff Mud aged with peppers, vintages of the New Year’s Resolution Doppelbock and some bourbon barrel-aged versions of their beers.

The new system will also be perfect for the brewery once the Pint Bill goes into effect. Under the new law, you’ll be able to try up to 12 4-ounce samples, which will definitely be a possibility once the bill becomes law.

The tap system expansion comes on the heels of the construction of a new, bigger bar. Everything will certainly be put to good use when the Pint Bill goes into effect.

S.C. House approves Pint Bill, moves on to governor for signature

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For all the hiccups and hurdles South Carolina’s Pint Bill has faced recently, this week has seen the bill fly through the state Legislature. On Thursday, the amended bill successfully made it through the S.C. House of Representatives with a 73-37 vote.

As expected, the bill – which passed out of the Senate on Wednesday – came up against little opposition in the House. Lawmakers concurred with the changes made from the version they originally passed.

It’s fully expected that Gov. Nikki Haley will sign off on the legislation. Once it becomes law, the changes immediately go into effect. She’ll likely sign the bill within the next couple of weeks.

Pint Bill passes S.C. Senate

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After finally making it to the floor of the South Carolina Senate on Tuesday for debate and a vote, the state’s Pint Bill on Wednesday finally passed the chamber with a final vote.

The bill passed its first test on the chamber on Tuesday with a 31-1 vote. Unsurprisingly, the only “nay” vote came from Sen. Mike Fair (R-Greenville). You’ll recall Fair’s objection resulted in negotiations between supports and opponents, which ended in the compromise the Senate eventually passed.

So, what’s next? The bill now goes back to the S.C. House of Representatives, which must approve the changes made from the version they originally voted on. Since there was little objection in that chamber, it’s unlikely the bill will have to jump over any more hurdles. Once the House approves it, it goes before Gov. Nikki Haley to sign into law.

The bill will likely be signed by the end of the month.

Pint Bill passes 1st reading in Senate

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Things have been pretty quite on the Pint Bill front since a compromise was reached on May 9. But Tuesday morning, the bill finally made it to the floor of the S.C. Senate for what turned out to be a successful first vote.

By a vote of 31-1, the bill received a second reading in chamber. That next and final reading is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday. Following that vote, the bill goes back to the S.C. House of Representatives, which must – and very likely will – approve the proposed changes from the version they passed earlier this year. After that, it’s on to Gov. Nikki Haley to sign into law.

No word on how quickly the changes will go into effect if and when the bill becomes law.