President of Beers: #30

River Falls Red Ale: Thomas Creek Brewery, Greenville, South Carolina

We're drinking the flagship craft beer from every state in the Union, counting down from 50-1, to find which is home to the President of Beers.

#30 River Falls Red Ale: Thomas Creek Brewery, Greenville, South Carolina

State: The first shots in the Civil War—or War of Northern Aggression as it's known by the losers who started it—were fired in this state when Confederate soldiers aggressively bombarded the northerners in Fort Sumter. The state with the most trailer homes per capita has played an important, backward, role in national politics from Rep. Preston Brooks caning an abolitionist on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1856 to Strom Thurmond's pledge to keep the "nigra race" out of the white man's swimming pools in 1948.

Brewery: Thomas Creek Brewery began when experienced homebrewer Tom Davis started up a pub in downtown Greenville in 1998. It has since overcome both a local predilection for hard liquor—this is a place where people strive to legally make moonshine—to become the premier brewery in South Carolina, bottling 10,000 barrels a year.

Beer: River Falls Red Ale is an Irish-style red ale based on a recipe Tom Davis concocted before opening the brewery. It's taken home its fair share of medals at Carolina brewing festivals over the years.

Difficulty of obtaining in Oregon: Moderate. Thomas Creek doesn't distribute west of Tennessee but you can have it shipped from places like the Charleston Beer Exchange within the state.

Rating: 62.1

mini-bottles were more evil
South Carolina Brewers Association
allow brewery tours and beer tastings
gains more recognition
series of major violations
violate NCAA rules, too


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