Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you had a fantastic weekend! This blog will chronicle our journey to complete Greenville’s Beer Passport this year, so continue to check back for more! It will be updated as we visit more breweries!! 🍻
This will be told from Jamie’s perspective. He has a partial bias to IPAs, but will try anything craft. We’ll also be spotlighting any food that is especially good at any of the breweries.
Golden Grove Farm & Brew is small brewery tucked away in the woods next to I-85. I have been driving past it for years and never knew it was there. It has fun little atmosphere for those looking for a spot more low key and quiet. From left to right I sampled Red Cheese Lite, Jalapeño Business, Boob-erry, and Red Ted. I was honestly surprised by the number of drafts since their operation is fairly small. If you want to get out to the country a bit for a different experience check out Golden Grove!
Located across the Haywood Mall, Iron Hill Brewery is a chain brewery and restaurant, different than most of the other spots on this list. But don’t let that alter your opinion. Many of their beers are made in-house, which provides the micro brewery quality with non-micro brewery quantity. I had a few samples of different IPAs, but ultimately decided on the Philly Special. Every brewery that produces more than five beers has a hazy on tap at the moment. They’re bitter and fruity like a typical IPA, but tend to have a thicker and cloudier texture. I’ve had a few that were similar to milkshakes, however, the Philly Special has a good texture and packed a citrus flavor. I definitely recommend Iron Hill for those that want a craft beer and some good food to go with it. You won’t normally find a high quality food menu and craft beer at the same place.
Thomas Creek has been one of my all time favorite breweries in Greenville. Nothing beats their $3 Monday drafts and resident dogs wanting to play fetch. I started with their classic IPA, Trifecta. This beer has been on the draft list for a well over a year and can be found in many local bars around town. I can’t seem to find the second beer I drank on their website anymore, however, I wish they’d make it a regular. It is an IPA and sour hybrid. Typically I don’t like sours, but they managed to add just enough punch to a hoppy IPA which sparks my interest. Thomas Creek is a Greenville original and deserves to be a stop on anyone’s brewery tour through Greenville!
I went to Tetrad’s grand opening with a friend of mine and, due to a comical situation, got half a beer on the house. I had to use the restroom, and after returning, found my friend soaked in beer and our pints on the ground. A keg sitting on our table popped and caused a bit of scene. I’ve been back since a few times and the most recent with Sarah to get my passport stamped. Per the usual I had to go heavy on the IPAs so my flight consisted of Tetrad Traversed IPA, Tetrad IPA, Tetrad West Coast Pale Ale, and Tetrad Grace Under the Pines. The full beer menu has great variety for all types of beer lovers including a pilsner, red ale, brown ale, and stout. Their space is not huge and has extremely limited outside seating so I wouldn’t recommend visiting with large groups or kids, but this is an affordable spot for a night out with friends.
As we continued our pursuit to complete the Update Beer Passport we took a long drive up to Spartanburg. Plankowner is a fairly new brewery and it is polished like it. The space they have is fantastic. They have a long bar and lots of table seating to the side. I love how they keep their distills shining right at the front door for everyone to see. I went pretty standard on my typical selection with an assortment of IPAs. I had the Blackbeard IPA, King Neptune IPA, Hidden Harbor IPA, and Island Breeze Wit. These beers had great variety and I could definitely have had a couple more pints. We’ll be back to visit Plankowner next time we’re in Spartanburg as it’s one of the best breweries I’ve been to in the Spartanburg area.
Carolina Bauernhaus sits on a quiet street just off the main drag in Downtown Anderson, SC. They have a unique spin compared to most breweries because alongside beer they serve wine and mead. Even though I prefer beer I appreciate the variety as not all of my friends are active beer drinkers and like wine or mead better. Sarah and I went with two friends of ours in the area for dinner and drinks and had a great time. I picked up a flight of the following (in order left to right in the picture below): The Contrarian (West Coast Style IPA), Fripa (Farmhouse Rye IPA), No Sleep ‘Til Brewklyn (Coffee Porter), and 18 Mile Red (Barrel-Aged Red Ale). My favorite was the Fripa.
We also got a bratzel bowl from the food menu which was pretty awesome. Sarah and have been to Germany and love German cuisine. I would definitely go back to Carolina Bauernhaus again as it as plenty of options for everyone and you could definitely spend a few hours here.
We visited Carolina Bauernhaus – Greenville right after they opened their new location. The space they are in is a growing space, similar to many popular hangouts in Greenville nowadays. You throw a brewery, coffee shop, and fast casual restaurant into some warehouse like building and you have a great night out! I had the FRIPA (Farmhouse Rye IPA) and it was great. The variety of selection is fantastic. You can get saisons, ales, stouts, IPAs, and even meads. There also tends to be a lot of food trucks here due to their large parking lot so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out on the truck rotation. We will definitely be back as the area gets more built up to spend some time here and get one of their popular charcuterie boards.
This is one of our new favorite spots to visit. Swamp Fox Distilling is now almost a year old (as of Oct 11th, 2020) and has just sold their 3,000th bottle of rum! We went a couple months after they opened and spoke with the owners for a while and had a great time with their resident Bernese Mountain dog, Berkeley.
I have personally tried their dark rum, cinnamon/fire rum, and coconut rum. I like to drink the “Dark & Stormy” (dark rum with ginger ale or ginger beer), the fire by itself, and the coconut with either pineapple or grapefruit juice. The atmosphere inside and outside the building is one-of-a-kind and special to me because they are located in the town of Pendleton, SC, where I grew up. Along with selling bottles, you can try a number of different mixed drinks such as their Cheerwine and naked rum, mojitos, and dreamsicle! I highly recommend anyone in the area to give Swamp Fox a visit, and continue to support great local businesses like these.
To be continued…