USA, SC: Swamp Rabbit Brewery to open in Greenville in March

Ben Pierson has been waiting for the arrival of the brewing system since summertime. It came on three large flatbed trucks, all the way across country from Oregon, Greenville News reported on January 23.

The Swamp Rabbit Brewery & Taproom in downtown Greenville is planning to open to the public in mid-March, but first things first — making the beer.

The 10-barrel JV Northwest system must be assembled, calibrated and tested, but brewing will begin the first few days of February.

The Swamp Rabbit Brewery (named after the trail that begins in its location) will be a bit different from the area’s other larger-scale production breweries.

It’s more of a Bavarian, village-type brewery.

Pierson, known as an elder statesman of Greenville-area brewers since he came to Greenville to run the now-defunct Downtown Brewing Co. in 1995, renovated a post office for the future brewery. The building will feature a taproom alongside the brewing system.

The state’s new “pint law” makes it so that Swamp Rabbit can sell three pints for consumption on site.

The brewery will have four base beers: American Pale, English IPA, Belgian White and Oktoberfest Lager. The first seasonal will be a Bohemian Pils.

This is a welcome addition to the area’s beer culture. The only thing left to figure out is how to tie growlers onto bicycles for transport.

24 January, 2014