Our friends, Jaime and David, popped the cap for our neighbors to the south and the beer is just pouring in. Distributors in South Carolina are picking-up brands left and right. Here? Not so much right now. While we had a few significant American craft additions to the state last year, i.e. Bell’s, Southampton, there is not a lot happening right now. This proves it: Bear Republic just entered the SC market. They have some mighty fine brews—we’ll even go so far as to say Hop Rod Rye is one of our favorites.

There is no question—and we can honestly say this without bias—that North Carolina has been a benchmark for beer in the south. There is a thriving beer culture in our fair state, so this news is especially disheartening. Why would they enter SC before NC? Because SC is thirsty for it. There is already a bunch of brews available here that are not being brought to market, which drives us nuts. Even scarier is that some very big brands are in flux right now with the loss of a distributor. How the transition will play out is still a question. Where do these beers find homes? Will some disappear? There’s only so much space for storage. We truly hope the move by Bear Republic is not a sign of the times. We hope NC hasn’t lost its thirst.