I'm looking for some advice on where to buy some beer in the Charleston area. My dad is down there for business and offered to bring some beer for me. I'm looking for some Cigar City, Westbrook and anything else that might be of interest that isn't available in the Pittsburgh market. Ideally I'd like a place that I could call ahead and have them pick the beer for me if possible, he doesn't know a whole lot about craft beer. Thanks!
You want the Charleston Beer Exchange. It's small; but has an expertly curated selection. They also have their inventory online and should be able to put together a box for you in advance. Cheers! http://www.charlestonbeerexchange.com/
Technically, Cigar City is distributed in South Carolina - but it's very limited what actually makes it in state. From my experience, CBX's online list is usually pretty up to date; but it may not hurt to call or email if you have a specific beer you're looking to buy.
Are you sure? I've never seen Cigar City anywhere in SC. http://drinkblogrepeat.com/2014/01/24/cigar-city-negotiating-sc-distribution/
CCB is supposed to be coming. Luckily CBX puts updated date on their inventory so you know when it was last updated.
While Seek-a-brew has CCB listed for South Carolina and I remember they had a presence at Brewvival, I can't find any current info on SC distribution. That may have been wishful thinking on my part.
Word on the street is that CCB should be statewide by the summer/fall of this year. Apparently they are in talks with different distributors around the state. They have been attempting to expand to SC since around 2010, going back and forth with expansion/capacity issues as well as distributors. They do have some sort of distributing relationship with SC, as they have been at all the Brewvivals.
According to a Columbia-based distributor who was in negations with CCB, "It's not a matter of if, but when they begin distribution." Now, of course, that could all fall through, but this person sounded very confident CCB would get it done. (According to the distributor, there were three distributors competing for them in Columbia and a handful in Greenville. Likely some in Charleston as well.) They're eyeing June, but again, that's all tentative.
Bottles in Mt Pleasant may be worth checking as well, they seem to get big allotments of some stuff, and put it all on the shelves.
