Southern Hops Brewing Company

Great beer, food, and service. Definitely a nice atmosphere to relax whether inside their spacious dining room or out in the beer garden.

 

So the wife and I went over around lunch on a Saturday. I have been living here for 6 years but have not been here yet i had heard the beer was not very good TBH. I decided to see for myself when a friend recommended the food was great. The place was not very busy, lots of room inside and a beer garden outside, this day they were having alive band and they were smoking a pig lots of people coming in as we left. The house beers were ok, i had the red ale and the blonde ale, they had tons of nice guest taps. The pizza we had was excellent, service was fast and very friendly. We will be going back here for sure, think they also have live bands on Saturday nights.

 

 

 

 

Important to note, my ratings reflect my impression of Southern Hops Brewing Company (SHBC) relative to other places I've been. In other words, I honored the standards of the BA rating scale. Why is that important? It's important because SHBC fulfills a niche in the Florence, SC area that no other place is. You can swing a stick and hit a place serving BBQ and Budweiser. Finding someplace dedicated to craft beer excellence in Florence SC is something else entirely. For that, I give SHBC credit and I am thankful.

That said, SHBC could improve the overall quality of their own brews. None of them are poor, but none of them are particularly great either. They're your typical "brown ales." The food is typical pizza and wings type fare. Attempts appear to be made to source locally, but the food was just okay in my opinion.

On the positive side, the guest beers on tap at the bar were chosen thoughtfully. The selection was good and the prices reasonable. The waitstaff was friendly and willing to offer suggestions.

I fully assume this is a new place. So, I assume they will improve as they refine their craft. And, I wish them luck in the area. It's worth paying them a visit.

Decided to stop by this place as I was in the area. Pulled into a full parking lot, but there was room around back. Walked through a beer garden on my way to the front entrance, but being kinda cold out it was only occupied by smokers.

Full crowd inside, and got a seat right at the fairly large bar. Pretty open area, but it appeared that there was some sound dampening insulation on the ceiling so noise wasn't an issue. They brew a few basic beers (a Golden Ale, a Brown, and a Pilsner). I went with the Brown, which turned out to be pretty tasty. I could have easily gone with another. Looked over the food menu while I was working on my drink, pretty basic bar food. I decided to go with their special; pulled BBQ chicken sandwich with smoked gruyere and caramelized onions. Very good. Went with a Stevens Point 2012 Black Ale while I was finishing it. Bartenders were very attentive and polite.

Crowd inside got larger and larger the whole time I was there; there was a record release later I believe. Pretty wide age range of those there.

Overall a pretty decent place, I would definitely stop by again next time I'm in the area.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but once you walk in it was a very warm atmosphere to it. There are tables in the front and the bar area is at the back. About 10 to 15 tv's make it good for watching the local sports teams. The tap selction is good usually having COAST, Bear Republic, Bells, and Newsouth on tap. Their own brews are a blonde Ale a brown ale and a pilsner. The beer are average, clearly brewed with the intent to offend as little as possible. The food here is excellent, however be prepared to wait. Food service tends to be on slow side. Also they recently opened a beer garden that is quite nice. They have hammocks and cornhole boards setup. Overall it's a nice plays with a few flaws that don't signifivcantly detract from the experience. I would recommend it to anybody in Florence looking for a place with a strong tap selection.

We were passing thru Florence and went looking for beer with out the usual SC smoke. The clerk at the hotel sent us to Southern Hops.

Interesting place. First off it's big. Lots of tables, a long bar, some sofas. Fair number of tvs. Plenty of parking.

The 2 house brewed beers are just OK but the guest beers were excellent - Racer 5, 3 from Stoudts, 3 from New South, Dogfish 90, Mojo IPA, Smuttynose IPA, Atwater Porter, and some others I missed.

We tried 2 of their pizza's - buffalo chicken and BBQ. Both were first rate.

And did I mention there's no smoking!!!

Try this place.