The term “tap takeover” is used a little too liberally these days. Usually when a bar or store hosts one, it’s a handful of a brewery’s year-round releases and one or two special beers, and not something such as Stone’s Most Arrogant Bar party.
But Friday, Columbia’s Piney Grove Green’s location is hosting a true tap takeover from Conquest of 25 beers, including a slew of new one-off releases.
On Thursday, June 13, Barley’s bar and restaurant in Greenville was officially awarded the title of Most Arrogant Bar in the U.S., a title bestowed annually by the Stone Brewing Co. to the bar that sells the most amount of a certain number of Stone beers. To celebrate the occasion, Barley’s tapped more than 30 rare and unique Stone kegs, and Stone CEO and Co-founder Greg Koch flew in from San Diego to present the plaque and greet fellow craft beer fans.
During his visit, Koch sat down with me for an hour-long interview on a variety of subjects related to the craft beer scene. In the first installment of that interview, Koch and I discuss the “Most Arrogant” title, his thoughts out the Southeast and South Carolina beer scene and the potential it shows for the future.
Let’s talk about tonight, first off. The Southeast has won this award for the past four years, and now Greenville, SC, wins this award out of all the bars in the country selling your beer. What did you think when you found out Greenville won?
(Long pause) Uh … boy, that’s a really great question. (Laughter) My first reaction was, “Sheridan? Really?” (Note: “Sheridan” is Scott Sheridan, who has represented Stone in the Southeast for the past decade.) But honestly, it was, for one, Wow, again the Carolinas – North Carolina was the previous three years and now South Carolina – but this shows a cohesive approach to winning the title. You don’t win Most Arrogant Bar without intending to win Most Arrogant Bar. It doesn’t happen by accident; it happens by intent. So the fact that Barley’s intended to win this is cool, and the fact it was won by the fourth bar in a row that is from the Carolinas that intended to win this is … I think it just says something about the winning nature of people from this region of the United States. You know, if we’re going to bother to do something, we’re going show up. And if we’re going to bother to show up, we’re gonna show up big. And if we’re gonna bother to show up big, we’re gonna take it home and win.
Photo courtesy Barley’s
How about South Carolina beer. Have you had any experience with SC beer? Have you tried any breweries from around here?
Oh, hell yeah. I was at Brewvival a couple of years ago. I gave the keynote that all of 12 people sat and listened to. But whenever I do an event when I travel, I rarely drink Stone. It’s not because I don’t love it and love what we do, but of course I want to enjoy … the reason I got into craft beer was because I am an enthusiast, a geek, and so what would an enthusiast and a geek do? Just try a bunch of stuff because that’s what you like doing.
Now, I’m not terribly good at taking notes, and when I’m at beer festivals I’m not terribly good at remembering all the details (laughs). But I can tell you … what’s the name of the brewery right next to Brewvival?
(Scott reminds Greg he enjoyed COAST’s HopArt IPA. Greg agrees and proceeds to tell Scott he’s smarter than he looks. Witty banter ensues.)
Is that a kind of normal thing, that wherever you go you try the local stuff?
Oh, hell yeah. I’m not a homer. I’m not a homer in San Diego, I’m not a homer on the West Coast and I’m not a homer here. I have a Stone beer in my hand right now because it’s the unfortunate reality that we sort of bumped everything off the shelf. But anybody that’s visited the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido or the one at Liberty Station knows that we have more guest beers on tap than we have of our own beers. It’s a philosophical thing, it’s an enthusiast thing. I don’t think there’s any question that we have full confidence in our beers, but just because we think we make pretty damn good beer doesn’t mean we don’t think a lot of other people also make pretty damn good beer. In fact we know they do, and we love celebrating that as a whole. It’s the culture.
In South Carolina, we have three new big breweries coming online this year: Conquest in Columbia, Quest is opening in July and Brewery 85 is opening in the fall. You being in the business for as long as you have, what advice would you give them for longevity.
Do what you love. Do. What. You. Love. (He pounds the table to punctuate each word.) Don’t go to the people. This is not arrogance speaking. This is not any of that boisterousness speaking. This is just plain, simple enthusiasm speaking. If they do what they believe in the most, what they love, then it gives me as an enthusiast the opportunity to discover their world. If they try to come to me, if they try to do stuff to make me – the consumer – happy, then they might be discounting their own passion, their own direction, their own talent to do so.
I think we’re artisans in this business, and brewing is art and science. You have to pay attention to the science part because that helps you be consistent and it helps you brew what you actually intend to brew. But the art part is as much or even sometimes more critical. And so a lot of folks will discount their own art in favor of what they think people are asking for. So, my piece of advice is, don’t do what people think that they’re asking for. Do what you believe in. Brew your favorite recipe! So many times, someone behind a brewery, a brewmaster will say, “Well, this isn’t really a beer. I brew this because it’s popular. I brew this because it’s what people want.” And, for me, if you brew what the people want instead of what you’re really passionate about personally, then you’re not giving me as a consumer enough credit to appreciate it. I want you to give me credit or be willing to take the risk of just putting it out there. Take the risk, because that’s how you differentiate. That’s how you become something special.
Stay tuned for the next installment of our interview.
Remember how Barley’s in Greenville won Stone‘s Most Arrogant Bar Challenge of 2012, beating out hundreds of other bars across the country? Well, they did, and as a result got the chance to host a massive Stone-centric Most Arrogant Bash featuring a slew of rare and unique Stone brews and a visit from Stone CEO Greg Koch himself.
Thursday morning, the bar released the tap list for the event, which is scheduled for Thursday, June 13, beginning at 7 p.m. As the headline for this post says, that list is ridiculous.
Here are the 32 (!!!) beers they’ve got on deck:
Charleston Beer Week kicked off this past Sunday, and from now through Saturday, the Holy City will play host to a variety of events highlighting craft beer and local brews.
If it’s SC beer you’re looking to enjoy, you’ll want to make your way over to Closed for Business on Tuesday as they’ll be hosting a massive tap takeover of some of the state’s finest brews. Forty two beers from every production brewery in the state will rule CFB’s tap lines for the evening, including some new releases. Here’s who’s bringing what:
COAST
Conquest
Frothy Beard
Holy City
New South
Palmetto
River Dog
RJ Rockers
Thomas Creek
Westbrook
Needless to say, you’re certain to find something you like.
For more details, head over to the event page.
Since opening a little more than a year ago, Columbia’s World of Beer location has become a sort of second home for many of the city’s craft beer fans (yours truly included). Unlike other craft beer-centric watering holes in the city, WOB works hard to bring in and promote as much local beer as possible, visiting one-on-one with brewers to pitch exactly what they’re trying to do. I’ve talked at length with the guys running the place and I can tell they’re really dedicated to getting as much SC beer into the place as they can.
All that work comes to a head this Thursday as part of WOB’s Southern Beer Feature event, or as it’s colloquially known, South in Your Mouth.
That night, the bar’s taps will be taken over by nearly every brewery in South Carolina, including some brand new beers and a lot beers and breweries rarely seen in Columbia. In total, there will be 40 South Carolina beers for the taking.
Here’s what each brewery will have on tap Thursday night:
River Dog
COAST
Westbrook
Holy City
RJ Rockers
Windy Hill Cidery
Thomas Creek
Conquest
New South
To the best of my knowledge, this is the largest collection of SC beer ever at any Columbia bar at one time. While there could be a few additions or changes between this list and what ultimately ends up on tap, that’s the bulk of what will be on.
This will be the first and possibly only time you’ll see some of these beers on tap in the Midlands, so pull up a chair, raise a glass and drink local.
It’s clear from the past couple of months that Conquest is a growing success in the Columbia beer scene. Ever since their extremely well-received launch in January, they’ve continually churned out new batches in an effort to keep up with the growing thirst for their beer. They’re in such high demand that even though the brewery isn’t officially open to the public yet, they’re already planning on tripling their output later this year.
But until this week, sporadic kegs at local bars and the occasional one-off release was the biggest exposure Conquest got. That changed on Tuesday as Conquest was the featured brewery during World of Beer‘s regular Brewery Spotlight event. With six different kegs tapped, it was the largest collection of Conquest brews in one place at the same time, and all indications were it would be a big night for the brewery.
“Big” is putting it lightly. The night ended up being a historic one for both the bar and the brewery.
As mentioned, there were six Conquest beers tapped for the event. Their three year-round beers – Sacred Heart IPA, Artemis Blonde and Medusa Stout – all made an appearance, as well as the Double Dry-Hopped Artemis, some Bipolar High Roller and their St. Patty’s Stout, which remained after the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. There was even an appearance by The Finisher, Conquest’s stellar 18% imperial stout brewed with brown sugar and honey. Sadly – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – only samples of that were handed out.
As the night went along, the crowd grew larger and larger, eventually packing the bar. I made my way through the crowd a good bit jumping from one group of friends to the next, and I can’t remember seeing one person who didn’t have a Conquest-branded glass in their hand.
And then it happened: At about 7 p.m., an hour after the event started, the keg of Bipolar High Roller kicked. Minutes later, the Double Dry-Hopped Artemis was gone. Just like that, Conquest had made history and earned the title of fastest keg blown at the bar, a crown perviously worn by Holy City‘s Pluff Mud Porter.
As the night went on and the beer continued to flow, I could tell the guys from Conquest were loving every minute of it. Joseph was bouncing from person to person, rarely without a smile on his face or a drink in his hand (not that one was a result of the other), and Matt and Scott seemed to be talking with a different group of people every time I turned around. It was great to see patrons find them so approachable and willing to talk. They were more than happy to talk with folks about what they were brewing up and were the most engaged of any brewers I’ve seen at a spotlight event.
Yesterday morning, World of Beer tweeted out this photo, which showed overall sales for night. (Quantity is number of pints sold):
Those are some amazing numbers. The fact Conquest outsold every other beer in the bar is not that surprising, but still incredibly impressive. Chances are if you picked any random person in the bar last night, they were drinking Conquest or water, but that’s about it.
I make no secret about the fact I’m a huge supporter of Conquest. Of course I was excited to finally have a brewery in Columbia, and the fact their product makes all the hype justified is even more exciting. But what excites me even more is being in a place like WOB on Tuesday and seeing just how much everyone else enjoys their stuff as well. Columbians have wanted a brewery to call their own for a long time, so it’s no surprise they’ve taken a liking to Conquest so quickly or adamantly. But with a fledgling beer culture in the Midlands, folks needed something they could take pride in.
If it wasn’t clear before, Tuesday left little doubt: Conquest is the brewery Columbia has been waiting for.
Lately, the national Total Wine & More chain of stores has had a renewed focus on craft beer. Aside from installing growler stations, holding classes and doing more to promote the non-vino side of their operation, Total Wine managed to land an exclusive distribution deal with Clown Shoes, and we know where all the Westy 12 went when it hit late last year.
The Charleston Total Wine is holding a three-day celebration to highlight the grand opening of its Brewery District, which is sure to showcase craft beer even more. If there’s one day to be there, it’s Friday when the folks from Holy City, COAST, Westbrook and Palmetto will all be on hand as part of a tap takeover from 5-8 p.m. You can meet the crew, get your growler filled and show some love for local beer.
Details about the tap takeover and the week’s other events can be found here.
