By Colin Burch
For Weekly Surge

I love microbrews, and I have often given our local brewpubs and microbrewery complete sanction - if you're small, and you're local, then you rock.

But the time has come to make some tough decisions.

With the arrival of Gordon Biersch Restaurant Brewery into the Myrtle Beach market, we now have three brewpubs and a microbrewery in the area: Quigley's Plate and Pint in Pawleys Island, Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery at Broadway at the Beach, Gordon Biersch at The Market Common, and New South Brewing Co., which is located in Myrtle Beach and supplies kegs to TBonz Gill and Grill and other local restaurants.

I'm glad to say that none of these brewers make a bad beer, but which beers are the best? Which stand above the rest?

The Advantages of Local Brews

As Weekly Surge's beer and libations columnist, I'm somewhat of a brew-snob, so to me, each local brewer offers a better beer-drinking experience than mass-produced Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Michelob, and other big brewers.
Following craft-beer standards, our local brewers create beers without rice or corn, which the big-brands often use to get cheap and easy sugars while fermenting mass quantities of beer. Only malted barley, wheat, hops, and yeast go into craft brews.

All-malt brews, as opposed to those made with rice or corn, open the beer drinker's mind to "the fact that beer should taste like something other than club soda," said Josh Quigley of Quigley's Plate and Pint. Conversion experiences are happening all the time. Brock Kurtzman, employee of New South Brewing, said his girlfriend used to drink Bud Light exclusively. But as Kurtzman began learning more about craft beers, his girlfriend branched out. "Now our Nut Brown is probably her favorite," he said. That's a big swing, in flavor, consistency, and calories.

Furthermore, as Liberty's Eric Lamb pointed out, each of the Grand Strand's brewpubs offers the beer drinker evidence of authenticity: the brew tanks are at least partially visible at each location, and if the chief brewer is in the house, he'll be glad to answer questions and talk about his craft.

For fans of microbrews, local is always going to be best. The local microbrewer has control over quality and service, something that microbrews outside the region don't have, said New South owner Dave Epstein.
Pete Velez, Gordon Biersch's local brewer, says the big brands lose quality due to the pasteurization needed to stabilize beer for long shipping trips. "The overall character of a beer definitely changes when it is brewed for national distribution," he said.

Best of the best

 

Each local brewer has roughly a handful of beers on tap at any given time. But what are the best beers at each place? What is the must-have brew from each brewer?

It was hard to pick the bests. It was even harder to taste all those beers and walk.

But assuming you can't spend all day tasting beer after beer at one of our local brewpubs, or at a bar supplied with New South beers, you need to know your best bets when you have the opportunity. And one caveat: The brewers won't necessarily have each of their brews available at all times. They're always brewing new batches and rotating the beers in their serving tanks.

QUIGLEY'S PINT AND PLATE,
257 WILLBROOK BOULEVARD, MINGO @ LITCHFIELD, PAWLEYS ISLAND

Quigley's Pint and Plate is more than a brewpub. Quigley designed it after working with two breweries as well as the TBonz brewpub in Mount Pleasant and Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery in Myrtle Beach. Quigley designed the best of what everyone wants from a brewpub: stained wood, high ceiling, outdoor patio, beer-friendly menu, and multiple taps.

In addition to seasonals, Quigley's Pint and Plate has Swamp Fox IPA, Longboard Lager, Nut Brown, a peach beer, and my two favorites:

• Shakedown Wheat

This is a light, crisp, tasty wheat beer served with a wedge of lemon. It connects the qualities you expect from a microbrew with the accessibility that will always appeal to American fans of gold, straw, and blonde colored beers. The bonus is that Shakedown Wheat, while not being a light beer, felt light in my stomach, making it a great beer to drink and drink with a squeeze of lemon on a hot summer day.

• Waccamaw Neck Red

There has never been a better way to venture away from straw-colored beers. Among reds, this beer has the perfect balance between even hopping and maltiness. Brewed with a caramel malt, Waccamaw Neck Red (not to be confused with a Waccamaw redneck) comes across just sweet enough. It should appeal to anyone who drinks beer on a regular basis.

FYI: Quigley's peach beer is not syrupy sweet like some fruit-flavored beers. If you like the fruit-with-beer idea but would rather have it dry than sweet, this might be the beer for you.

LIBERTY STEAKHOUSE AND BREWERY,
1321 CELEBRITY CIRCLE, BROADWAY AT THE BEACH, MYRTLE BEACH

Liberty is a big steakhouse with wood furnishings and a sense of Americana, including a starring role played by the Statue of Liberty. The available beers are listed with descriptions on chalkboards, including a big one in the dining room. Inside the front door, a couple of paces up on your left, you can see Liberty's brewing operation.

Liberty has several beers that are rotated year-round, including the Unfiltered Wheat, Miss Liberty Lager, Raspberry Wheat, White Ale, Amber Waves, seasonals and more. My picks are:

• I.P.A.

India Pale Ale, to be exact. Most I.P.A.s are known for their distinct hoppy bitterness, and Liberty's version is just fine in that department, but what I actually liked most about it was on the malt side. It had a good weight and consistency in the mouth and an incredible smoothness to go along with the hops. This copper-colored beer could serve as a beginner's I.P.A. while leaving plenty for connoisseurs to admire. I'm being a little unfair to Lamb in choosing this one. He's about to rotate it off the taps for a while.

• Nut Brown

This one has been my favorite - with the possible exception of the Christmas seasonal, Santa's Little Helper - ever since I set foot inside Liberty 10 or 11 years ago. Smooth, malty, darker, with just a touch of good bitterness. Sturdy and smooth. A pint of this one makes a bad day go away. The malt sugars and alcohol bring about a genuine smile every time.

411: Liberty's White Ale, one of the brewpub's bestsellers, has a pronounced dryness in its finish.

NEW SOUTH BREWING CO.,
851 CAMPBELL STREET, MYRTLE BEACH

Just to be clear, New South is not a retail shop or restaurant. It is a commercial microbrewery, located in an industrial district of Myrtle Beach. But my recent visit there revealed a couple of things that seemed a perfect fit for the beer culture: a German short hair pointer named Harley, and classic rock on the radio.

New South kind of has two gigs. One is its own brand of beers, which it distributes to bars and restaurants in both Carolinas; the other is its contract with TBonz Gill and Grill restaurants to make signature brews exclusively for the chain. Among New South's several great offerings - including Market Street Wheat, Nut Brown, and I.P.A. - I have to go with these two:

• Lowcountry Lager

This super-fresh brew showed how a lager can be so much more than Budweiser. It leaned toward the sweet side of beers, with a light, mellow body under a crisp finish with a tap of bitterness. The light body, however, was still an actual body with a nice consistency to it - none of that soda water effect.

• Cooper River Red

I couldn't get over how smooth this beer was. It felt great in my mouth, and finished with a tingle of crispness. I tried to get my palate around the hops but didn't get very far - Cooper River Red seemed to draw its success from the malt side.

Note: New South's White Ale is its bestselling beer. If you try it, make sure the barkeep brings an orange wedge. The fresh orange makes a nice compliment to the orange zest brewed with the White Ale.

GORDON BIERSCH
RESTAURANT BREWERY,
3060 HOWARD AVENUE, THE MARKET COMMON, MYRTLE BEACH

The Market Common location on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base is Gordon Biersch's 26th brewpub, so it offers a unique combination: locally brewed beer made with recipes that have been tested at multiple locations throughout the company's 20-year history. The interior leans toward the sleek and upscale, without losing a casual attitude.

Regulars on taps include the Hefeweizen, Czech Lager, Schwarzbier, and my two favorites:

• Golden Export

This beer taught me that a dry, crisp finish did not have to be bitter, or have to make me thirstier. Considering the light hopping in a light body, maybe it was the yeast that gave it a subtle fruity flavor. Smooth and light.

• Märzen

Dry on the front end, finishes smooth. The hopping is subtle but it is fun - what's the flavor of fireworks? Gordon Biersch folks will tell you the Marzen's mild sweetness makes it one of the chain's bestselling beers. I think they have a winner.

Tip: The Hefeweizen is a crazy beer, using hops and yeasts to evoke flavors like bubblegum and banana. If you're seeking an adventure in beer drinking, give it a go.

What do you think?

Disagree with my picks? Think another one of our local beers should be given the spotlight? Give me a shout back at beerpour@yahoo.com or www.maltyhops.blogspot.com, and let me know which ones you think are best. If you're reasonably civilized about it, I'll share your views with Surge readers in upcoming Beerman columns.

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