E-Malt.com News article: USA, SC: Hunter-Gatherer Brewery & Alehouse's to be launched in Columbia by May 2016

Come May 2016, the Curtiss-Wright Hangar at Owens Field in Columbia will be home to Hunter-Gatherer Brewery & Alehouse's new beer garden, production brewery, bottling line, kegging line, and event venue, Free Times reported on October 13.

The hangar, built in 1929, has been abandoned for years, with people wanting to make use of the historic building but no idea ever sticking — until now.

“CW Partners, LLC, is purchasing the property from the county and doing most of the rehabilitation; I just get the opportunity to be the tenant,” says Kevin Varner, owner of Hunter-Gatherer, a brewpub that's occupied a building at Main and College for the past 20 years. “Scott Linaberry has been pushing to have this building saved for the past five or six years.”

Other members of CW Partners include Robert Lewis and Chris Rogers, Will Brennan and Jim Brennan.

The price of overhauling the space has stopped others from pursuing it in the past, but owners of the building will qualify for state and federal tax credits for rehabilitation of a historic building, as well as a state tax credit for renovation of an abandoned building.

“That will help them make it a viable project, and that I am getting a good deal as well,” says Varner.

As for the brewery set up within the building, Varner has been collecting pieces over the past few years, anticipating this move. One of those pieces is a 17-barrel brewhouse system originally from Germany. A bottling and kegging line and full quality control lab will be functional and provide form as well.

“The bottling line is pretty compelling looking, like a Rube Goldberg machine,” Varner says, which should provide a visual element for the interactive brewery tour that should interest people who like beer — and even those who may not.

The brewpub’s original space at 900 Main St. will remain as it is, but this expansion will allow H-G beers to be bottled and distributed around the state and possibly beyond.


14 October, 2015